The Three of Three
by Polaris-the-Wanderer
Summary: Well... Percy Jackson and all the old charries plus a couple invented by my friend Phoenix Espeon and me. And a prophecy. Now, there's a lot of fun. Happy reading!
1. Chapter 1: The Start of the Journey

Chiron turned to the small group of campers gathered before him

Chiron turned to the small group of campers gathered before him. They included the three children of the Big Three: Shade, son of Hades; Thalia, daughter of Zeus and Percy, son of Poseidon. Also present were Grover, Annabeth, Tyson and the two new campers Alex and Sky. He was deeply concerned about questing with such a big group, but that was what the Oracle had said. Her words still sounded in his mind:

_Eight shall go west with you to the wild lord,_

_Three shall be children who sow discord_

_Three shall be campers, tried and true,_

_Two shall be who to the camp are new_

_Along the way, allies you will find,_

_Two twins at first sight, but not in their mind._

_Go to the one whose mind may be changed,_

_And to the one of the Three first named._

_But be warned, all who go may not return,_

_And all who do something difficult will learn._

With a heavy heart, Chiron relayed those words to the campers who seemed to match the Oracle's words. Their reactions were varied.

Shade didn't care. To him, the world was ending, and it didn't matter if he went to see his father sooner rather than later. Tyson was excited, he had created tons of gear and weaponry, and was anxious to test them out. Chiron, well, Chiron was very nervous. He didn't like that they would find new people who had never been trained, and that the whole group wouldn't come back. Sky was worried about Alex, as usual, but otherwise didn't care. Percy was a little nervous – he was a powerful half-blood that could topple Olympus, and there were too many annoying prophecies. Thalia was mostly annoyed with being dragged away from the Hunt. When she wasn't fighting with the Hunters, it was actually quite fun. Annabeth was being Annabeth, mind racing through a whole lot of stuff and possibilities and things like that. Similarly, Alex was being Alex. The young girl really wasn't quite so sure what was going on - Sky had mentioned a really long trip though, which sounded fun.

Chiron was slightly appalled at taking Alex and Sky. Alex seemed too young to be submitted to danger and possibly death, and Sky never went anywhere without Alex and, it was slightly hard to deal with his own horse butt in the travel arrangements, let alone two. What he decided to do, since cars, planes and probably trains were out of the running for transportation, they were going to have to walk, or rather, ride.

Percy, Chiron decided, would ride the black pegasus that he rescued from the Princess Adromeda with Grover. Alex would ride Sky with Thalia. He himself would take Hades' son Shade and Annabeth. He had asked the camp horses for volunteers - Flame, a fiery palomino, was picked. Flame volunteered to take Tyson by himself. Chiron made sure all the campers were settled on their mounts, and took time for any last minute ride swaps. He then took the other two volunteers - Blues (a blue roan) and Night (speckled white on black) - and asked them to carry the supplies needed: food; blankets and a giant tent. He couldn't take water though - water was too heavy, and they did have the son of the sea god. Chiron believed he was all set. So, the group set out in double file, Chiron and Blackie at the head; followed by Sky and Flame; Blues and Night bringing up the rear. Then they were attacked.  
"Demonic spiders! Aahhh!" shouted Grover, fearfully pulling spiders off himself and accidentally throwing them on Percy who shouted at Grover. "Stop it, Grover! They aren't the enemy! They are just little spiders. Look over there!" Grover picked up his head and looked and screamed "The Minotaur! For Pan' s sake! NO! This cannot be happening! EEEKKK! Spiders! GET OFF ME!!"

Annabeth snapped at Grover, "Get serious, Grover. Concentrate on what's important!" She eyed the Minotaur, not being happy at all.

Percy and Thalia both charged, sword and spear at the ready, as Alex looked at Sky. "What do we do?"

And Grover was being Grover, trying to swat the spiders and get his pipes at the same time.

While Percy and Thalia busily distracted the Minotaur, Sky carefully slipped into the shadows to the sides and back of the monster. She crept around until she was directly behind the bull-headed creature. She whispered to Alex to free her hunting knife, took a dagger in hand and charged, racing straight at the monster's head, dagger held out in front of her. The monster didn't even know she was coming... until she tripped on a log. Sky and Alex were sent crashing head first into the back of the monster's knees. The Minotaur turned to look at them while giving any one of the two advancing heroes the chance to spear it from behind. He sank his teeth into Sky's shoulder. She was already dazed, and the Minotaur had a slight poison in his teeth. She began to relax, feeling woozy and exhausted. Her shoulder hurt like fire, but why bother feeling pain? It seemed much better to sleep... Sky sank to the ground like a stone and fainted. Alex was trapped beneath her friend, her leg crushed under the heavy horse-like body. The Minotaur was looming ever closer, teeth bared, when Alex felt a pull on her t-shirt. Sky had fallen clear of the Minotaur, close enough to the group for Blues to get close enough to Alex. Blues barely managed to pull Alex clear of Sky before the Minotaur attacked her too. As it was, the teeth clipped her leg and broke her skin. Alex fainted clear away in Blues' grip. While the Minotaur was preoccupied, Shade, like the shadow he was named for, slid lithely up a tree and dropped with crushing force onto the Minotaur's neck, instantly breaking it. The monster disintegrated almost instantly, but not so fast for Shade to miss grabbing a horn as his trophy.

Chiron hustled over to the prone duo, busily giving orders. "Annabeth - go into my bag on Night's back. I have some ambrosia and nectar in there. Get it quickly! We still might loose these two."

Annabeth nodded as she practically sprinted over to Night, searching for the ambrosia and nectar. She pulled it out and ran back.

For some reason, Percy couldn't help but note that now two sons of the Big Three had a Minotaur horn in their possession.  
Blues had pulled the now-limp girl out of harm's way, and had leaned her body against a tree. He then went to help Chiron with Sky. Chiron was having trouble pulling the big centaur/satyr upright so he could get her to swallow some of the nectar. It took Blues and Chiron to haul the horse girl up into a kneeling position, and Blues had to stay by her side to prevent her from tipping over once more.

Shade dropped the Minotaur horn and lifted Alex, hugging the still form against his chest. She was so small, he thought, so fragile. Sitting down by Chiron, Blues and Sky, Shade positioned Alex so that her head leaned against his chest. He took the nectar Chiron passed him with a sheepish smile, and proceeded to feed Alex like he would his sister (if he had one).

"They're gonna be all right?" Annabeth asked. The two children of the Big Three with nothing to do were taking out their frustration on the ground, in Percy's case or examining her bow, as Thalia was doing.

Shade gently held the reviving Alex to him, not understanding the feeling that was coursing through his veins. She was so precious – and he knew that he would do all he could to protect her. Chiron was busy coaxing a sleepy Sky to her feet. Twisting, he stamped his hoof to call attention to himself. "I believe we will camp here tonight. If you are bored, prepare the camp." He hauled Sky to her hooves, and helped Shade up with Alex, who fell into a true sleep almost instantly, her breath flowing evenly against Shade's chest.

Of course, that meant everyone. Percy was wrestling with a tent pole, while Grover bleated on the other side, trying to keep it upright. Thalia, on the other hand, didn't seem to have any trouble with the tent the girls would share, having already set it up.

Sky wobbled toward the girls' tent, Shade carrying Alex right beside her. After tucking Alex into a sleeping bag, he hurried over to the tipping tent poles of the boys' tent where Chiron was frantically running around, trying to help everywhere at once. Together, Shade, Chiron, Grover and Percy managed to set up a dirty and leaning but still workable tent. Chiron easily set up a roaring campfire a safe distance away from the tents and surrounded by rocks. He began passing out sticks and hot dogs to roast.

"No marshmallows?" Percy cracked, only to be poked by Annabeth's stick. By the time he looked back, Annabeth had a hot dog on the end, innocently roasting it over the fire. Thalia was also roasting a hot dog, while Grover, being a vegetarian, was fiddling with an apple, waiting until everyone else had their food, to be polite and all.

"We will have marshmallows, but later." Chiron's hot dog caught fire. "Oh darn."

Percy and Thalia couldn't help but laugh at the centaur's expression, while Annabeth had forcibly handed her stick to Grover while getting water from one of the water bottles. She opened it and poured it over Chiron's hot dog. It was either that or roll it in the ground.  
There was crashing in the bushes, and the leaves started to shake. Chiron instantly drew his bow and reached into the quiver on his back. Shade emerged from the girls' tent with Alex in his arms, squeezing her protectively to his chest. The bushes rattled again, and out stepped an olive skinned teenage boy. Then several things happened at once. A tree branch cracked and fell on Shade's head as Sky panicked, sending her earthly powers out everywhere (also killing the fire). Chiron fired his bow, his tranquilizer arrows instantly putting the boy into a deep sleep. The boy crumpled, waves of heat coming off his skin, rekindling the dying embers into a bonfire that scorched Tyson and singed Blues and Night, scaring them into a gallop towards the woods, knocking Annabeth and Percy to the ground and nearly trampling Thalia. Flame spooked and reared, scattering the fire/bonfire. Flaming coals and embers were thrust into the sky, showering everyone around. The only person protected was Alex, who was trapped under a motionless Shade.

**I'll add more next time!**


	2. Chapter 2: The Strange Flamer

Annabeth, Percy, and Thalia climbed to their feet, and Grover was on his hands and knees, searching for the apple he'd dropped.

The 'oh-my-gods-I'm-on-fire dance,' was performed by pretty much everyone. Which meant pounding on the coals to put them out, and Grover was busy rolling on the ground now, bleating very loudly.

Shade was deeply unconscious; the branch had hit him squarely on the back of his head. He sprawled face-down on the grass, blood seeping through his hair. The strange boy also was face-down, the arrow in his thigh. His dark face was relaxed, head turned sideways. Sky raced into the forest at full gallop and retrieved Blues and Night. Chiron, after helping to stamp out the coals, was gently examining the stranger. When Sky came back, she dragged Shade off of Alex, and carried the little girl back to the tent. Chiron finished his examination of the boy and crossed the clearing to Shade, who was now half-conscious. Chiron put a light bandage around Shade's head, then carried him to the boys' tent and put him in a bed. He then scratched the boy with an arrow, sending him back into sleep. Tyson grabbed a water bottle, and, tying the stranger to a tree, he jerked the arrow free and splashed the boy's face with water. The dark boy's eyes snapped open. He stared at Tyson and murmured "One eye?" He slumped against the tree, seemingly exhausted. A second later he straightened, and with a look of utter concentration, began to burn the ropes. Tyson grabbed him and shook him. The fire went out. So did the boy. Sky peered over Tyson's shoulder and said "Tyson! You shook him too hard. Now we'll have to wait for him to come around again." Tyson grunted. "Annabeth, I need you! How do we tie a person who can burn things at will?"

Annabeth hurried over, eyeing the ropes. "We need something that doesn't burn," she said matter-of-factly. "Do we have anything like that? Or you just keep him knocked out so he can't burn them."

"Hold up, how's he burning them?" Percy asked.

"Or you could have Percy watch him," Annabeth added as an afterthought, referring to the crazy water stuff. In the background, Grover moaned, having discovered his apple was charred.  
Chiron trotted over, looking worried. "What's going on?"

Tyson said "He burns ropes"

"He burns them?"

"Yep"

"How?"

Tyson looked thoughtful and then he changed his expression into looking pained. "He looked like this, then I heard the ropes sizzling and orange flame was starting to eat them."

Chiron looked very, very scared. "The prophecy..." he murmured, then jerked; "Fire, eh? Maybe he's a son of Hestia. Look, he's waking up. Percy, douse him in water. Saltwater is fine."

"Why?" Tyson asked.

"It will subdue him for the moment, until we can get his name and decide what to do with him."

A low groan came from the boys' tent. Chiron sighed. "Shade's awake. I should have known a light scratch wouldn't keep him under long. He's too strong. I'll have to use something heavy on him if he is going to stay still long enough to heal at least partly." Chiron left the group, selecting an arrow that had HEAVY DOSE written on it. He was almost in the tent when he turned back to the group clustered around the prisoner. "You could also dose him with a couple drops of sleeper - just enough to get him groggy and sleepy. Then he won't be awake enough to try to burn the ropes. Or untie him and try something fancy, like a water sphere, enclosing him."

The boy woke with a start, his eyes slightly unfocused and lips tweaked in a dreamy half-smile. "Ayden, is that you? Ayden, where've you been? I missed you. Wait... you aren't Ayden! Who are you? Where am I? WHERE'S AYDEN? What have you done with her?!"

Percy looked around. There was no seawater. No person named Ayden either. So he decided to use the next best thing, river water. It surged up from the banks and began circling the boy like a tiger. It seemed a little rude to just dump it on him. Then it surged forward, drenching him from head to toe anyway.

"Um," Annabeth began, ticking off his questions. "We're not Ayden, I'm Annabeth, he's Percy, he's Tyson, she's Sky, you're in the woods, we have no idea where Ayden is, and we didn't do anything with her," she said matter-of-factly. "Now it's our turn to ask questions. Who are you, why are you here, and are you a child of Hestia?"

The boy shivered, soaked through. "I'm called Rino. My father died – I don't have a home. Who's Hestia? I don't have a mother."

Annabeth grimaced. "Oh, yeah, sure. Hestia's the goddess of the hearth, coal-brain. I thought everyone heard of the Olympians. Anyway, can you come up with another explanation to why you can set things on fire?"

Rino suddenly looked very scared, confused and irritated. "Can't everyone do that?!"

Tyson grinned. "Nope."

Annabeth added to him, saying, "Most everyone can light things on fire, just not with their minds."

Rino collapsed onto the tree. "I'm not... normal?"

Tyson's grin spread. "Nope."

Rino's face went dead-white. "Oh, God..."

Tyson's grin spread wider. "Gods" he corrected.

Rino's eyes rolled back in his head and he fainted. Tyson's grin fell. "What did I do?" he asked, puzzled.

Percy tried splashing more water on Rino, seeing if he could wake him up. Rino woke with a yelp. His teeth started chattering, and he looked kind of like a sad, wet puppy. Tyson looked at him, a concerned expression on his face. "You okay now?" he asked cautiously. Rino looked dazed. Then the look of concentration was back. Heat radiated from the boy, and in no time the ropes were dry and crackling. Tyson panicked. "Chiron!" he called.

Chiron cantered over. "Hmm..." he said, and reached deep into his quiver, eyes blank.

"Chiron!' Tyson called again.

"Oh... Got it." Chiron drew one hand out of the quiver, holding a small bottle, and slapped Rino with the other. The flames vanished. Instantly, Chiron popped the cap off the bottle, lifted Rino's head, and dropped two drops of the bottle's substance into Rino's mouth. Rino gagged, and swallowed. Instantly, the drops took effect.

Rino's face acquired a dreamy, half-asleep expression and the air around him cooled. He leaned back against the tree, hands at his sides, staring off into the distance. "Ayden..." he sighed.

Tyson looked at Chiron, confused. "Huh?" he asked.

Chiron grinned. "I dip the tips of my arrows into that vial. It contains a mild sleeping drug, liquid form. If I had put five drops, instead of two, into Rino here, he would be asleep for the next week, and unable to focus or concentrate for a few days after waking. The only draw back is if someone were to forcibly wake him, such as slap him, pinch him or dump water on him, he would instantly snap back to reality. The good thing though is that he will remain at least remain in this state for the next week and unable to concentrate for a few days following, unless forcibly awakened, which we might do, once we learn more about him. Which is another plus, in this state, he won't be able to think about lying, let alone do it. It's almost like a truth potion: any questions we ask him will be immediately and fully answered. For example, Rino, what is four plus four?"

Rino sighed. "Eight."

Chiron's grin spread. "Perfect. One other thing is that he won't really remember this, and it will feel more like a very clear dream."

"That's...convenient," Percy decided. If it meant he could stop being water-bearer, it was fine with him.

"We still have questions?" Annabeth wondered vaguely. "Oh, and what are we going to do about this Ayden he keeps going on about?"

Rino's head swung dreamily around to Annabeth. "Ayden?" he asked softly, then spaced out again.

Chiron sighed. "Rino, who is Ayden?"

Rino's eyes clouded, and a pained smile crossed his face. "My twin."

"You have a twin?"

"A very nice one. Oh, Ayden, why did you leave me in this cold hard world?"

"She's not with you?"

"No, haven't seen her in almost a year. Oh Ayden, come back to me..." Rino's voice trailed off, and, sagging against his bindings, his head dropped forward and he fell lightly asleep. Chiron shrugged, and popped the cap on the bottle again. Quickly, he dropped one-two-three...four into Rino's mouth. "Oops. Oh well." he sighed.

"What?" asked Tyson. Chiron shrugged again. "I gave him one drop too many." Rino's head lolled, his breathing deep and even. "He'll be deeply asleep for the next week, and lightly so for a half-week after. He should be awake in ten days, give or take a few hours. Tyson, take Rino into the boy's tent and tie him in a sleeping bag, alright? Just do it lightly, please. Percy, will you go with him, and encase the ropes and sleeping bag in water - just enough so they won't burn easily, just in case."

"Uh-huh." Percy waited for Tyson to finish the dragging-off-ropes and stuff part before heading off to the tent.

"He sounds like a cheap romance novel," Annabeth said to no one in particular.

Rino's body touched the ground with a light thump. His eyelids twitched, then stilled, his mind still separated from his body by sleep. Tyson plucked the boy off the ground easily, throwing Rino's head and body over his shoulder and holding the sleeper's feet. Chiron watched for a second, and then said to Annabeth, "Definitely a romance novel."


	3. Chapter 3: Hestia's Children

Shade came out of the tent, the bandages around his head stained red and his eyes unfocused

Shade came out of the tent, the bandages around his head stained red and his eyes unfocused. A slight smile flitted across his face, to be replaced with agony. Chiron's eyes widened. "He's not supposed to be awake yet! Why's he awake?" Shade looked sideways at Chiron, and stumbled over. Words tumbled out of his mouth, but in an incoherent order. Shade swayed on the spot, and began to tip, had not Sky been emerging from the girls' tent right behind him. She caught Shade as he fell, only to blush and shove him at Tyson as he came by. Sky spoke haltingly, almost grudgingly, "You know, Chiron, Shade won't rest quiet as you like until he is with Alex, making sure she's safe. Boys and protection, you know, they always want to be in control." She giggled as Chiron turned a deep shade of red.

Chiron's color vanished, and he gently took Shade from Tyson and turned to Sky. "By your leave, I'll put them near each other, where you can watch them." Chiron carried Shade into the boys tent, only to emerge shortly later with the injured boy cocooned in a sleeping bad, Shade's head on a large soft pillow, wrapped in a new bandage. Chiron carried the teenaged boy into the girls' tent, holding the flap open, and set Shade inside, snuggled against Alex. The last thing Chiron did before exiting was to gently blindfold the boy, after insuring that Shade's hands were tucked tightly in the sleeping-bag. "To protect everyone's privacy," Chiron explained as he closed the tent. "We can't have boys peeking on girls, or girls peeking on boys. Also, the blindfold and sleeping-bag will prevent him from exiting - he can't see to get his hands free, and can't get his hands free to free himself from the sleeping-bag."

Annabeth restrained a snicker. "Mr. D'll throw a fit," she said, keeping her face as innocent as she could. "Now what do we do?"

In the boys' tent, soaked through and cocooned in a damp sleeping bag, Rino dreamed. This is how it went...

_Rino stood in a wide meadow full of wildflowers and lush green grass, ringed in maple trees with their leaves as colorful as a sunset. The air was pleasantly warm, the sky a brilliant blue. But Rino barely noticed that. His attention was fixed on the far end of the meadow, where a slight figure danced in a wreath of fire. Her body was a flame, flitting, swaying jumping. Suddenly, a whistling noise rushed past Rino's head, a brown blur sped through the air to the far end of the meadow. It hit the dancer with a audible thump. The dancer reeled, the fire dying. She tottered and fell, the ground slick with her own blood, pouring out of a wound in her side. Rino tried to run to the dancer, but found himself rooted to the spot. A cry wrenched his throat. "Ayden!" And the scene faded, replacing Rino's vision with blackness. Rino tried to calm himself. He and his sister had fought, almost a year ago. He had turned, and ran as fast as he could away from her. He had heard her sob his name. "Rino! Come back! I didn't mean anything..." But he had not turned. He knew nothing of what had happened to her, so when he slept his dormant mind imagined, and made him view, all kinds of things. The blackness dissolved into another scene. He sat in a tree, Ayden was crouched by the banks of a swift flowing river. She stared into the water. Suddenly, a tree came down and a limb crashed on her head. She tumbled forward, into the deepest part of the river. Rino was forced to watch the motionless body of his twin being swept away by the river._

Back in the real world, Chiron turned to Annabeth with a frown. The week of Rino's sleep was almost over, they had only scant minutes. They had traveled far from the forest where they had found the lost teenaged boy, and had gleaned much information about him through his restless dreams. They had not been attacked by anything, but Chiron had sworn that, on watch duty last night, he had heard something that sounded like a fire crackling through the bushes, and a light, not from their fire, had illuminated the leaves of a nearby tree. Chiron sat, lost in thought. Suddenly, Rino stumbled out of the tent, and stood with his head cocked. "Ayden!" He shouted happily, and raced into the bushes, shortly followed by Blues the pegasus. Blues returned shortly, dragging Rino by the jacket collar. And, attached to Rino was a teenaged girl who looked like a female version of Rino. Blues dragged Rino to Chiron who smiled grimly.

Chiron turned to the girl. "Ayden, do you know who your mother is?" Ayden smiled. "Chiron, how nice it is to meet you at last. Yes, I believe I do. Hestia, please come and confirm my beliefs." As Ayden finished speaking, the fire glowed, and erupted into a bright pillar of flame. A shape took form within, and the goddess Hestia stepped out. "Yes, dear ones. I am your mother."

"Oooh," was Annabeth's only response, having decided it was probably a better idea to keep her mouth shut. Everyone else pretty much felt the same way.

Chiron bowed - an awkward maneuver that landed him in an almost kneeling position before he straightened. Hestia smiled at him, the corners of her eyes crinkling, before she turned back to her children. "Rinario, Ayden. You have grown so much, and have developed your gifts. Now, I can bestow gifts of my own, on all of you. Daughter of Athena, come forth. To you, I give this pen. It will never run out of ink, and has other abilities which I will leave you to figure out. Chiron, as Alex is not present, I will trust this to you. This crystal goblet is spelled to fill with any drink that she wishes. Grover, I give you this set of pipes whose songs will be enchanting and irresistible to your foes. Percy, for you I have a belt from your father, made of seaweed and shells, guaranteed not to break and will hold anything you wish it to. Thalia, Zeus sends you this sword, and I have added to it, in dire need, flame will spring from the hilt, and will help you conquer your enemies. Chiron, for you, I could only give you a set of saddlebags, to store all of your herbs and such. Shade is also not present, Chiron, please take this cloak of Invisibility to him. Sky, I give you a bow, it will not miss nor break, and the arrows will always hit your target and return to you. Tyson, I give you a kit for smith work, something I believe you learned in your stay in your father's castle. Ayden and Rinario - I am sorry I could not give these gifts to you earlier in your lives. Rino, I give you this crystal. It shines in the dark, will glow when you are lied to, protect you from anyone's magic - here she glared at Percy - and warm when you are in danger of poison or stealthy attack. Ayden, to you I give this vial. One drop will cure anyone of anything, if they are not dead. Two drops will kill. Finally, step closer to the fire." As Rino and Ayden looked at each other, the goddess beckoned to Tyson and Chiron, who stepped behind the twins. The goddess stepped into the fire, flames surrounding her in a cocoon. "Hold out your hands!" Hestia cried; her voice full of power. Rino and Ayden complied, both holding out their right hands. The goddess held out her own, wreathed in the fire that did not burn her, and pressed them against her children's. For a split second, the fire surrounded the family, one goddess and her half-blood children, and then vanished with Hestia. Rino and Ayden collapsed into Tyson and Chiron, who laid them gently on the ground. Chiron professionally checked both of them, only to find that the twins were normal, aside from three things. One was that they both had abnormally high temperatures. Second was that they both now bore scars on the balls of their thumbs, shaped like a candle flame. The scars seemed to dance like a flame if one stared at them too long. Finally, and most unnervingly, was when Chiron pulled back their eyelids. Both of the twins' pupils now had tiny fires raging in their depths.

"That was weird," Thalia decided, examining her new sword.

Annabeth squinted at the pupil-fires. "That's just creepy."

"I don't think she likes me," Percy added, eyeing the seashell belt. "Shouldn't Hermes be the messenger?"

_Who names their kid Rinario?_ was Grover's only response, and even then in his head, mostly because he was busy trying to practice with his new pipes, only to be interrupted by a whack with Annabeth's new pen. "Not if it's all irresistible," she insisted.

Chiron grimaced. "I don't think it's that she doesn't like you, Percy. She's one of those who are very worried about you, with the overhanging prophecy about children of the Big Three. Shade is okay with her because he's almost seventeen. And, she was the messenger because we don't need two gods and she wanted to give her children their gifts personally."

Tyson was sorting through his smith kit. "Every thing I need!" he said gleefully. "And Annabeth, I don't think you have anything to worry about with Grover's songs. They're only suppose to capture his foes."

Sky drew her bow. She had spotted a pheasant by a tree. Grabbing an arrow, she purposely shot slightly off target. The arrow hit the fowl with astounding accuracy - right on the pheasant's breast. "Wow," she said as she went to collect her game.

"Eh," Annabeth shrugged, sticking her pen into a pocket. "Better safe than sorry. And what do we do about them?" By 'them,' she obviously meant Rino and Ayden.

Ayden started awake. Heaving herself onto her knees, she pressed her marked hand to her twin's forehead. "Up we get, bro." He started awake, the fire in his eyes flaring. "WHAT DID YOU DO THAT FOR!!" he shouted. "THAT FELT LIKE A MULE KICKED ME IN THE HEAD!!" Rino lifted his hand, and a stream of flame shot out at his sister. She deflected it with a burst of fire, and then sent a small ball at him. "I liked it better when you where unconscious," she said as her ball smacked him on the head and he fell to the ground once more. "I feel like a mule kicked me in the head too. But you had to blame it on me. Ah, well."

Annabeth giggled. "Ah, the joys of siblings. You do know that's creepy?" she asked casually, referring to the fire.

"What would that be?" asked Ayden. "And I totally agree with you. Rino can be such a dunderhead sometimes. He has no sense whatsoever. I guess that he thought that the wake-up call felt like that, when it was only a tap. Though, when he wakes up, he will be very mad. That little ball of fire packs a powerful punch. He'll feel like a big horse kicked him in the head."

Annabeth shrugged. If Ayden hadn't figured out that the throwing-fire-around part wasn't creepy, it wasn't like she needed to know. "Is there a difference between getting kicked in the head by a horse and by a mule?"

"Horses hooves are bigger and stronger."

Chiron galloped up. "We need to keep going. We still have to go see Luke, I think, who can change his mind. Remember the prophecy:

_Eight shall go west to the wild lord,_

_Three shall be children who sow discord_

_Three shall be campers, tried and true,_

_Two shall be who to the camp are new_

_Along the way, allies you will find,_

_Two twins at first sight, but not in their mind._

_Go to the one whose mind may be changed,_

_And to the one of the Three first named._

_But be warned, all who go may not return,_

_And all who do something difficult will learn."_

"Alright, Chiron. Where should this lump and I ride? Cause riding is what we are doing, right?" Ayden indicated her brother with a nudge of her toe.

Chiron grimaced. "No more fireworks, and you can ride on Blues."

"One last thing. Then I promise I'll only use the fire when neccessary. Does anyone have any rope? I'll give it back in a second." Chiron handed Ayden a few yards. "That's plenty. Okay..." Ayden touched glowing fingers to her twin's mouth, which was instantly covered by a fiery gag. Then she took the rope, and tied his hands together on his chest. Hauling the load upwards, she lifted Rino's hands over her own head, binding them to her chest. She touched her fingers to the rope, which instantly was consumed in fire, then it died, leaving a rope that was intertwined with strands of metal and almost fireproof. She lifted Rino into almost a piggy-back position, and then hollered "Blues! Can you come over here please?" The pegasus did so, and carefully, Ayden lifted herself and her twin with her fire, and deposited them on Blues' back. Straddling Blues, she let go of her twin's legs, and stroked his jaw-line with glowing fingers. Rino slid back to consciousness, and started to writher, his body trying to get free of the ropes that prevented him from using his flames. Ayden stroked a very scared Blues, and said to him "I know, I know. He's being a stupid little ignorant bug." Rino stopped moving. Still talking to Blues, Ayden said "If he knew how I was feeling now, he wouldn't have attacked me in the first place. I feel like a mule kicked me in the head, too. But now his headache's probably worse, since I had to knock him out again to prevent him from injuring someone who couldn't fight fire with fire." Rino hung his head, resting his chin on his sister's shoulder. She reached up and collected the fire that had been his gag. Only she could hear him murmur "I'm sorry" in her ear. She leaned back so her head was against his chest. "Me, too." Ayden untied Rino's hands, giving the rope back to Chiron. While everyone else mounted, Rino cautiously reached around his sister in a hug, and she nestled against him. Ayden's lips wobbled and tears streamed down from closed eyes. Rino held her gently, letting her cry and shedding a few tears of his own. "I know, I know." he whispered in her ear. "We're safe, and together." Ayden's tears slowly stopped streaming down her face, and she fell asleep, nestled in her brother's arms for the first time in over a year. And Blues took off, carrying his passengers into the sky.


	4. Chapter 4: More Twins?

"Well, that was heart-warming," Thalia observed dryly

"Well, that was heart-warming," Thalia observed dryly. "A real Kodak moment."

Chiron, his passengers securely loaded on his back, set off at a light trot, followed by Sky. Flame took to the air behind Blues and Night. Blackjack followed shortly after. They were off, like a herd of turtles.

Chiron was very bored. He had a long conversation with Sky, compromised of mostly lapses into a very awkward silence, then broke ahead and sang to himself until Shade complained about a headache from his horrible singing. He then listed all the herbs he knew and their uses, until they ran out. Then he half hummed, half sang the longest and dirtiest songs he knew. Then he recited Pi to the millionth digit. Then, they had reached a city in Kentucky and the sun was going down, so they found a clearing and set up camp.

This clearing was the ideal campsite for several trouble-attracting half-bloods to spend the night. It was a smallish clearing with a scattering of small patches of bright green grass. Thorny bushes encircled the clearing on two sides, a small, shallow cave (just big enough for tents) stood on the third wall and a pathway meandered out the fourth. The pathway was lined with trees - plenty of firewood/tinder. The path was a quarter mile long, and ended in the heart of the city. The boys and girls pitched their tents, and ate their hotdogs, and prepared to settle in for the night.

And then the peaceful silence was shattered. "LOOKIT, IT'S A BUNCH OF WEIRDOES!" a girl's voice shouted gleefully.

"Claaaaaire," hissed another voice, much quieter than the first one, but still carried enough for the campers to hear. "You're a flipping idiot! They're weirdoes with swords!"

"And other pointy things," the first voice pointed out, not a shout as it was before.

"Luna, that's not nice," scolded a woman's voice. "And maybe you should both go, I don't know, apologize for waking up the nice people?"

"Mom, I am not apologizing. No one should be sleeping now."

"Claire's right, for once. Besides, don't we get to ask why they're a bunch of kids running around with a couple of centaurs and pegasi?"

"Pega-what?"

"Plural form of pegasus, Claire. Pegasus was that weirdo horse with wings and popped out of Medusa's neck. Gods, do you ever pay attention?"

"Girls..."

Shade raised his head. He must have dozed off. His head pounded the Riverdance in his skull, making it hard to think clearly. He moaned slightly. He shook his head, clearing it slightly, and rose silently to his feet. He slid into a crouch and headed toward the voices.

Of course, none of them noticed, but continued bickering. "Anyway, if they haven't come after us yet, they haven't heard us or they don't care," the second voice continued, ignoring their mother.

"They heard me," the first voice pointed out with something between smugness and glee.

"How is that good?" the other two asked in unison.

"No idea." It wasn't hard to picture the accompanying bright grin.

Chiron quietly came up next to Shade, along with Ayden. Shade raised his head to the centaur. "There's three of them, two kids and apparently their mom." Shade murmured in a voice only loud enough for Chiron to hear. "My plan is to sneak up on them, grab them, then have Ayden put 'em out with a bit of light, but I think Ayden can only put 'em out effectively by touching them. You take the mother, she's the biggest. I'll go for the kid on the right, tell Ayden she has the one on the left. Wrap you hand around their mouth, and grab their arms with your other. I'll snap a twig when it's time to go." Chiron turned obediently and murmured his instructions in Ayden's ear. He turned, and nodded to Shade. By this time, the sun had gone down enough that the three figures by the shrubbery were invisible to the family, but not so dark that the family had lit their fire. Shade snapped a twig, and they started forward. Before the family could so much as blink an eye, they had been grabbed from behind, gagged and restrained. Ayden's mark glowed in the gathering darkness. The kid she held dropped like a stone, and Ayden moved to the other girl. Touching Shade's captive on the forehead with a glowing hand made the girl in Shade's arms fall limp against him. Ayden turned to Chiron's captive, only to find she wasn't needed. The woman was slumped against Chiron's chest, no more alert than a bag of rocks. Still, Ayden sent her further into unconsciousness with a quick touch of her glowing hand. Then she let the glow fade, and the threesome were captured as effectively as possible - no noise, fuss or broken bones. Shade lifted the mother, and two teens up onto Chiron's back like sacks of potatoes. Then they hustled back to camp, where the prisoners could be interrogated fully.

"We have even more prisoners?" demanded Thalia upon seeing them. "How many strays do we get to pick up on this quest anyway?"

"A drachma we don't get another," Annabeth offered.

"Optimist. You're on."

Grover chewed into a tin can, studiously ignoring the betting, as he and Percy went on with their conversation about Soul Calibur III.

"Chiron, what did the prophecy say about people we will meet?" Ayden knew that they were following a prophecy, but didn't know much more than that. "We have time - at least an hour before they show any signs of waking, and then they'll have migraines for half an hour, then they'll just have really bad headaches. It'll feel like fire is raging through their heads. It isn't, though," Ayden added, seeing Tyson's terrified expression (he was thinking that their brains would be fried). Ayden then glared at Thalia. "I will inform you I am not a prisoner. I could knock you all out and leave anytime I wanted." To prove her point, she pointed her already white-hot glowing hand at Thalia, sending a white ball of fire at Thalia's chest at the speed of light... or fire. Thalia was only saved by Rino's casual flick of fire from behind her that flashed forth, deflected the ball, and withdrew.

Rino stared hard at his sister, and then turned to Thalia "You are right, I am technically a prisoner. So is Ayden, though she refuses to believe it. You could have us both killed now if you felt like it." Rino turned from her to his sister, flushing with anger. "Ayden, that was childish. Bed, now." Ayden sneered at him. Rino shrugged, and suddenly slashed out with his arm. He made no contact, but a snake of flame sprang from his hand in a rope, and grabbed his sister's wrists. "Bed, now." Rino ordered again, but Ayden only sneered again. Rino sighed, and the snake stretched to tie his sister's ankles too. "Bed, now." Ayden glared, calling him bad names. Rino looked annoyed. His fire pulled his sister to him, and he touched glowing fingers to her forehead. The fire-rope jumped from her limbs, and she turned, eyes closed, walked over to where the prisoners lay tied by Chiron, lay down next to them and fainted. Ayden's magic faded from all her spells - including the one that restrained their prisoners.

Thalia watched Ayden with slightly narrowed eyes and a hint of the same scowl she'd held for Zoë Nightshade. "Is she always like that?" she muttered to herself, wondering vaguely if lightning was about the same speed as the fireball - she was quite certain it was about as hot, if not a hell of a lot hotter.

One of the twins, the one whose black hair was straight down to her waist, pushed herself up onto her forearms, wincing. "Ow. Who played with fire? That's my job," she complained.

The other girl cracked open an eye to glare. "Shut. Up."

Their mother only groaned. "Not now..."

"Yes now," both girls said simultaneously.

Rino stared at the twin who had first spoken. She was beautiful. (Rino didn't realize that this was what a crush felt like.) Then he realized he was staring. Blushing, he went over to his sister and smacked her forehead. "Wake up." he demanded, putting fire into it. Obediently, his twin woke, rubbing her head, and clamped on his arm. "Now tell the nice girl who played with fire."

Ayden gave a slight smile and a wave.

The long-haired girl blinked, and her obvious twin, who had a ponytail instead, snickered. "Aaaaw, how cute," she drawled.

The first one made a face at her. "Go away."

"Later," ponytail-girl answered. She pushed herself up on her left arm, and rubbed her forehead with the fingers of her right hand. "Anyone want to explain anything around here?"

Chiron stamped his hoof. "You explain first. We are your captors - we can disclose or keep secret any information we wish. You are obviously half-bloods, and if you don't know what I'm talking about, your mother will. You are also obviously not children of Hestia - one, you have a human - mortal - mother, two: as you can see with Rinario and Ayden, they look vaguely Asian - olive skin and dark eyes. You are both tan, but white skinned. Introduce yourselves immediately, and then perhaps we will explain ourselves, and apologize for your rather abrupt capture."

Shade grinned maliciously. "Which was my idea, in case you wanted to know. I'm Shade, son of Hades, god of the Underworld. I would advise you not to antagonize me, or I may have to call on my powers to send you to your grave early, and painfully." He continued to smile evilly, and all those in hearing could hear the truth in his voice.

Claire tilted her head, meeting Shade's eyes for the duration of his speech. When he finished, she asked, "Are you emo?" Obviously she hadn't been paying attention to much of his speech.

Luna rolled her eyes. "Claire. Don't. Ask. Do you want to piss off the son of the god of the dead?"

"His name's Shade," Claire argued. "What else'm I supposed to think? Who names their kid Shade? And either that or he named himself, and only an emo person names themself Shade."

"Claire. Stop. Talking. Now."

While the twins were arguing, their mother sat up, meeting Chiron's eyes with her own gray-green ones. "I'm Alexandra. These are Claire and Luna. They know."

"Do you know who you... you know... did... it with?" Chiron asked slowly, this was an uncomfortable question.

Shade grinned a wolf's grin at Claire. "Do you think I'm emo?" Suddenly, he whipped out his cloak of invisibility, and disappeared from view - faster than an eye could see him go, or the cloth that enabled him to disappear. Rino almost laughed at him. Shade had forgotten to cover the back of his head. Rino tapped him, tugging on his hair. "Don't turn around. Cover your head." He hissed in the invisible teen's ear, to low for anyone but Shade to hear. Ayden came over and said to Claire, "Of course he is slightly Emo. He's the son of the God of the Dead. Dead, death, torture for eternity. What did you think - he'd be like a Tickle-Me-Elmo kind of guy? Being brought up by a pessimist isn't going to inspire that kind of behavior, pardon me Hades." She giggled.

Claire giggled, seemingly not caring that emo boy had disappeared from view. She was enjoying this very much, and Luna grimaced. "Eeeeemo," Claire chanted, and waved her hand vaguely in the direction Shade had disappeared. A thin tendril of orange light escaped from her palm, bouncing around the clearing like a hyperactive pinball. "Oops," Claire muttered. She held her hand palm-up, made a beckoning twitch with her fingers, and the light disappeared as if it never was. "But come on, Shade's such a...a..."

"Cliché?" Luna suggested.

"Thank you. A cliché name for death's kid. It'd be so much cooler if death's kid was a hyperactive, annoyingly cheerful kid who likes bright colors." Claire grinned innocently as Luna twirled her finger in circles beside her head, the universal sign for "cuckoo."

Alexandra gave Chiron an evil eye. "Apollo. He makes a terrible father, in case you were wondering. No child-support at all. Bows and arrows for their first birthday. Claire almost killed the cat."

Chiron sighed heavily. "Apollo. I should have guessed. Show yourself, god. You are vain as a cat when anybody calls your name."

Out of nowhere, another pinball began shooting around the clearing. This one was jet black, an empty space, or black hole. Shade chuckled, forgetting he was invisible. He leaned over to Claire, and whispered "Light and dark. We make an interesting pair, don't we?"

At that point, Claire promptly poked his invisible nose with her finger. "You can turn invisible?" she whined. "Not faaaair."

"Go turn him into a squirrel, then," Luna said irritably.

"Good idea!"

"You mean you want to get on the bad side of the god of the dead?"

"..."

A bright light appeared in the clearing, and pretty much everyone had to look away or risk being burned or something. When it faded, Apollo's Maserati Spyder was sitting there. The sun god got out, grinning slightly sheepishly, and was immediately tackle-hugged around the waist by Claire. "Hi Dad," she chirped.

Apollo grinned, though he disentangled Claire's arms first. "Hey, Claire. Turn anyone into a jackalope lately?"

"Isn't that Artemis's job?" Luna asked lazily.

"So? Sis needs to lighten up."

"No, you need to stop acting like a teenager," Alexandra informed him.

"Should we find some cover before he gets all offended and blows things up?" Percy asked Grover, Annabeth and Thalia in an undertone.

Shade growled at the sun god. "Sometimes I wish it was my father that turned up. I only see him when I spend time in the Underworld, and apparently these two have seen a lot of their father." He murmured this in an undertone, and sulked away.

Rino and Ayden stared at the god quizzically. "Who are you?" Rino asked, rather abruptly, and slightly dangerously.

Chiron swept them behind him with a hand and a hoof. "Pardon them, Apollo. They've never heard of the Pantheon of Gods/Goddesses before. But if you would explain, you could probably do it better than me."

_Gee, maybe that's because your dad's the god of the dead and all_, Luna couldn't help thinking to herself. _Oh well. Let emo boy sulk_.

"Eh? Whatever," Apollo decided. "Okay, for starters. Me. Apollo, god of healing, music, prophecy, and the sun. All the cool stuff."

"What about fire and magic?" Claire wanted to know. "They're cool too."

He didn't answer the question, instead holding up his hands and clearing his throat. "Haiku time!"

Luna promptly clapped both hands over her ears, Alexandra covered her face with one hand, and Claire giggled.

Apollo ignored them, and cleared his throat again.

"Healer of the gods,

Bringer of the deadly plague,

I am so awesome."

He waited, still grinning, for their reactions. Luna and Alexandra hadn't bothered to remove their hands, and Claire chose not to say anything. Percy, Grover, Annabeth, and Thalia traded "what-the-hell" glances.

Shade exclaimed, "That was HORRIBLE!! Seriously dude, not even remotely poetic! Not even truly a haiku!"

At which point pretty much everyone moved out of the way, in case Apollo was going to go all "godly rage" on Shade. The sun god frowned, and looked vaguely as if he was trying to decide if he should turn Shade into a naked mole rat and run him over with the Maserati Spyder. Or just drop him from the car. Or fry him on it. The choices were endless. "I should strap you to the sun chariot and fry you alive," Apollo mused to himself.

"Couldja turn him into a turkey first?" Claire asked brightly.

"Claire. No." Luna said flatly.

Shade looked uninterested. "Try me."

Chiron tried to shut him up, to whisk him out of the way, but Shade flicked his hand at him, and Chiron fell to the ground, for the moment, paralyzed. Shade smirked at Apollo, and snapped his fingers, becoming transparent like a ghost. "You can't touch me," he said, meaning both literally and not literally.

"Aaaw, he can go invisible and transparent?" Claire whined.

"Not the time." growled Luna.

Claire pouted and experimentally produced a string-thin rope of fire from the air, holding it in her left hand, and swung it at the Shade-ghost. It went through harmlessly. "Not fair."

"Hey, can you eat like that?" Apollo asked, interested. It'd be interesting to see how long it took the boy to starve if he was going to do that.

Shade gave a ghost of a smile. "No, I can't. I don't need to. I once went almost a year like this, and when I popped back into solidity and suffered no ill affects at all, though it took a little bit to break the habit of walking through walls. Anyway, the invisibility wasn't me. Hestia, goddess of flame, gave it to me. That's how those two -" Shade gestured a transparent hand at Rino and Ayden "- can play with fire. I play with things like the mind, and, obviously, my own state of being. Chiron was foolish enough to play with me, so I played with him." Shade drifted over to Chiron and checked the prone body over. "When I stop playing with him, he'll be fine. Anyway, I can't affect people in a different state of being when I am like this, just as you can't affect me. I can't be killed like this, or hurt, or maimed. I can't kill or hurt or maim you, unless I did it previously, like with the horse." Shade aimed a transparent kick at Chiron, but of course it went right through. "If you mortally wound me in your state of being, I can pop into this one and not die, but as soon as I pop back, even for a second, I die. And I would have to pop back at some point. I only stayed transparent for a year because it becomes very uncomfortable to be so detached to the world for a while." The transparent Shade shrugged.

Rino decided to try something. He built a cage of fire, and shoved Percy. "Add your water to this, only for a second. Maybe that will send it into the 'other state of being,' like Shade. Then we hurl it at Shade, and see what happens. Are you in?"

"That still sucks," Claire declared.

Annabeth scowled. "Just let Chiron go now." Though she really wasn't sure what she could do to enforce that.

Percy almost fell flat on his face, not having expected the shove. "Gods, I get it." He willed the water to do what Rino had said. Shade had it coming.

Apollo then reached out and patted the emo boy's head like a clever pet. And he didn't go through. "Very good work," he said cheerfully.

"Whatever." Shade flicked his hand, and Chiron muttered, groaned, and his eyes snapped open. Instantly he was wary of the teenager drifting before him. Shade glared mutinously at the god before him. Just then, Rino hurled the fire-water ball at him. It hit him, full blast. Shade choked, turned solid, and fell to the ground, immobile. Rino laughed. "Time he got what was coming, Mr. High and Mighty." Still laughing, Rino reached down and tapped the older boy's temples with his fingers. Then he snapped his other hand, and fire rose, bound the sleeper, and carried him to the far edge of camp.

There were several moments of silence following Shade's defeat, promptly broken by Claire. "Now what?" she asked pretty much no one in general.

"And more importantly, can I go now?" Apollo asked. "I don't want to deprive any one of my presence, but there are things I must do."

"If you so wish, oh mighty god. Claire, now you and your twin... Luna, have a choice. You may either come with us, for we are on a quest, or you may leave here, with your mother. Though, no matter what you pick, you will probably never return here, and will never be given a chance to go back on your choice." Chiron was sober, the prophecy hitting him like a stone on the chest. "Our prophecy is:

Eight shall go west to the wild lord,

Three shall be children who sow discord

Three shall be campers, tried and true,

Two shall be who to the camp are new

Along the way, allies you will find,

Two twins at first sight, but not in their mind.

Go to the one whose mind may be changed,

And to the one of the Three first named.

But be warned, all who go may not return,

And all who do something difficult will learn."

Rino smiled. "Now that's a poem, granted a little on the dark side."

"Cooooool," Claire said under her breath. Luna gave Claire a "don't-say-anything-yet" look, and then turned to Apollo. "Why can't you do that?"

"Because everyone else does," Apollo said amiably. "Anyway, have fun!" he climbed back into the sun chariot and everyone looked away as it sped into white nonexistence.

"..." For a moment, even Claire was speechless.

"Who're the Three?" Luna finally asked.

Chiron managed a twitch of a smile. "Some of our friends: Thalia, daughter of Zeus, Percy, son of Poseidon and-"

Rino cut him off. "Let me guess, Shade son of Hades. Boy, I pity that god."

Chiron glared at Rino. "The three tried and true are Annabeth, daughter of Athena; Tyson, son of Poseidon; and Grover the satyr. The new ones are Sky, the mix of everything, and Alex, daughter of Dionysus. Rinario here and Ayden are twin children of Hestia. Apparently, there are two sets of twins, them and you two, daughters of Apollo. Luke, son of Hermes, is in a position where he is valuable to both forces, and has ties in both forces - _him_ and the half-bloods. No one has died yet - part of the quest is that it could be anyone of us. Does that make sense?"

"I'll bet," Claire snickered at the mention of Shade-Hades, and promptly received an elbow from Luna.

"Yeah, but not those three," Luna said patiently. "The 'Three first named' thing."

And then Claire promptly spoke up. "Hey, mom, aren't you going to launch into giant monologue about how we can't go because we might die and stuff?" she asked her mother casually.

Alexandra shrugged. "Hell no. Too much energy."

Chiron sighed. "There is another prophecy, which I have recieved, that tells of the possible doom of Mount Olympus, and it will happen on one of the children of the Big Three's sixteenth birthday. Right now, our candidates are Percy and another boy who has disappeared, or Thalia, if she breaks her vow as a Hunter. Shade could be, but he'd have to go back in time, as he is already seventeen."

"...Yeah, fine," Luna rolled her eyes. "We're bored. It is summer vacation and we have nothing to do."

"And it'd really suck if the world ended on us, without us knowing!" Claire added brightly.

"Great. Grab your stuff and go in the girls' tent. We leave early tomorrow." Chiron grinned, and trotted off to his bed.

Claire and Luna nodded, and left. Minutes later, Claire led the way back into the camp, sporting a slightly fuller orange backpack, walking backwards and chatting at Luna, who didn't seem to really notice. Claire had a small orange hair clip, Luna had something blue stuck into her ponytail's band, and both hand a gold chain bracelet with plenty of miniscule charms.

"Hey, which way's the tent?" Claire broke off in the middle of her rant.

"Over there," Luna said, pointing at them. "Duh."

"Which one, though?"

"I'm guessing the one that doesn't have boys talking video games in front of it."

"Right."

Claire pushed open the tent flap, saying loudly, "Hello all you other freaks!"

Over her shoulder, Luna said sarcastically, "Yes, all the other freaks that could kill us dead, I bet."

"Nah, turn them into squirrels first."

"You couldn't. Just shut up before you put your foot any farther in your mouth."

"Say please."

"Where'd you get those?" Annabeth interrupted, pointing at the things the twins now sported.

"Oh, Mom was holding them hostage or something," Claire said offhandedly. "Said we got them when we were born, but we weren't allowed to use them until she was positive we wouldn't kill someone without a good reason."

"She still isn't," Luna quipped, dropping her backpack and sleeping bag in a yet-unclaimed part of the tent. "But that's all right."

"Hi!" said Ayden. She was incredibly excited about having new tentmates. "Anyone up for a magic duel? I promise I won't kill you if you don't try to kill me," Chiron heard her, and shouted "BEDTIME!" Ayden groaned. "Oh well, maybe some other time. You can sleep next to me, Claire, and Luna... hmm... over by Thalia there appears to be space."

In the other tent, Shade turned transparent and continued sitting in his corner. He felt so, so, so cold. He wasn't too pleased with his actions that night, and wished he had kept his strange powers a secret. He cowered in his corner, a shadow of his cocky self.

"Ooh, tomorrow morning," Claire suggested, plopping her sleeping bag down where Ayden suggested. "Luna can be referee. She doesn't like fighting as much, so don't ask," Claire rolled her eyes.

Percy and Grover walked into the tent, still bickering. It was amazing how long boys could talk about video games and nothing else. Percy noticed Shade first. "Any reason why you're see-through?"

"YAY! see you in the morning..." Ayden yawned, put her head on her pillow, and was soon asleep.

Shade looked at them sullenly. "I'm depressed. I made a complete fool of myself." Shade switched reality planes again, becoming solid.

Claire nodded vigorously before basically falling on her pillow herself and the rest followed suit - less painfully.

Percy and Grover exchanged looks. Shade had made a fool of himself. And they really weren't sure what he expected them to do.

Before long, everyone was asleep. Then it was dawn.

"Wake up! We have to sort out rides for our new questers. Then it's on to Nico. I can feel his magical aura."

Ayden groaned. She rolled out of her sleeping bag and went to where the pegasi had been left for the night. She slung her packs over Blues, then went into the boys' tent, grabbed her protesting brother by the arm and bodily swung him out of the tent. Then she knelt, gathered up Rino's sleeping stuff, and put it in his bag. She took that out of the tent, crossed to Blues, and slung that over him also. "Claire, Blues'll carry the three of us. C'mon!"


	5. Chapter 5: Goodbye

Rino sulkily meandered towards Blues and climbed up right before the pegasus' wings

Rino sulkily meandered towards Blues and climbed up right before the pegasus' wings. Ayden hopped on after him, and motioned for Claire to sit behind her.

Shade swung his packs over Chiron, and clambered up. Chiron grinned at him. "Everyone makes mistakes. It's learning from them that's the problem." Shade nodded reluctantly. Chiron smiled. "Will you try one thing though? Try shifting planes on my back." Shade obeyed, and Chiron laughed. "You are as weightless as you look. I can't feel you up there!"

"Wouldn't he like...go through him or something?" Claire asked interestedly, way too awake for dawn. She already had her things, as well as Luna.

"Just go get on," Luna rolled her eyes, staying firmly on the ground.

"But neither of us has ridden. Ever," Claire pointed out.

"That's why you're going first."

Claire made a face at Luna and climbed up awkwardly, with much annoyed noises and snickers.

"I am not going to run after you all, by the way," Luna added off-handedly as Claire fidgeted. It was basically her way of asking where she was going to be.

"Nico has an aura?" Grover asked, puzzled, from his seat atop Blackjack.

"Kinda. I have a homing device on all of you who are the kind of people who would stray easily." Chiron grinned. "I can't exactly let you go loose in a world where supernatural things would try to kill you."

Ayden studied Luna. "You could go with Grover, but, I have a better idea." She conked her brother in the side of the head. "Get off, you lump. Go hang out with fellow boys, and ride with Grover. Luna, come up here, behind me, in front of your sister. Hold onto my waist, and Claire, you hold onto Luna's. I'll hold the reins, and away we go!" Ayden waited until Apollo's twins were on board and then tapped Blues' flanks with her heels, and told him quietly, "Up, and as fast as you can!" Blues took off at a thundering gallop, and, just before he brained himself on a tree, snapped his wings open, and they were instantly air-born and soaring high above the others.

"Right..."

A few moments later, Luna was on Blues's back, looking like she wasn't sure if she would rather be really annoyed or really sick. In contrast, Claire was whooping gleefully, waving at the others.

Alex jumped on Sky a moment later, with both their packs.

Chiron made sure his riders were settled, checked everyone else, and slapped Flame, Blackjack and Nightflower on the rumps, sending them hurtling into the sky. Then he set the pace, heading forward at a stately trot.

Nico sat in the grassy tree that was his home for now. He had found a rabbit, and was having it for dinner. He started talking to the willow tree in front of him. "Rapbit mit is goo." He said, his voice slurred and choppy. He hadn't used it in a while, and he was stuffing his face with the meat. With Bianca... gone, there was no one to talk to, aside from a willow tree. Nico was a bit loco; he had gone a little crazy without his sister and other half-bloods there.

He heard a reply in his head that said _Of course it is, for it is of this earth. Unlike you_.

He got mad at the tree. "Of course I belong, you son of a twig! My mother was human!"

_Ah_, said the tree, your mother. _What about your father, son of a God. He did not belong on this earth. He belongs under it, just like you. You cause death and destruction. Are you going to turn the tables on your sixteenth birthday? Will the prophecy be about you?_

Nico violently began to shake his head. "It can't be. I couldn't betray my sister."

_But your sister is dead, isn't she, young Nico_.

"SHE NEVER WILL BE! DOESN'T BEING A CHILD OF THE DEAD GOD PROTECT HER??" Nico screamed at the top of his lungs. His throat burned from the strain, and he let out a long, wild wail that echoed through the clearing, slowly subsiding into short harsh sobs. Then he saw a flash of flame-like light, and his head swam and he completely blacked out.

"Got him." Rino grinned wolfishly, turning to his sister. "Thanks for the added power. He was a strong one." Rino turned to Shade. "Nice mind control, too. I couldn't make sense of what he was saying in reply to you, but he was really convinced he was talking to a sage old tree."

"Holy crap, are you serious?" Claire asked, appearing out of nowhere. An orange bow was in her hand, and she was busy slipping her bracelet back on, ghosts of arrows disappearing as she did. "He thought he was talking to a flipping tree? And not even a dryad? How crazy is this kid?"

"Very?" Luna guessed dryly. She didn't bother to stow away her blue bow yet, and kept an arrow in her left hand, ready to reload it if necessary.

"He wasn't really crazy before," Percy shrugged, Anaklusmos and Tyson's shield in his hands. "Just..." Really pissed at you for not protecting his sister better. Um, yeah. That.

Shade grinned. "He's just really lonely, and devastated - his sister died just recently. He doesn't think he has a dad, and his mom died a few years back. And, I was playing with his mind a bit. That's fun. How did you know what I was making him believe, Rino?"

Rino looked a little sheepish. "I got a flash of his mindset when I put him out. I can't control anything, but I have to extinguish all his thoughts. Percy, he was, in his head, going on about how 'Jackson was supposed to protect her.' What was that all about? He felt really angry."

Shade nodded. "I got that too. What was that about, Percy?"

"Um..." Percy had a major look of guilt and sheepishness. "Last year, we got sent on a quest to find Artemis, and Bianca was along...and she...well...died," he finished lamely.

"...DETAILS, BOY!" Claire shouted, waving her bow around and almost taking off Luna's head.

The said twin immediately grabbed Claire's wrist. "Don't do that. Go interrogate someone else," Luna ordered her. "Or don't you have a head?"

Rino looked very, very puzzled. "Why would that make him angry? Sometimes death is inevitable, right?"

"Well, I promised to protect her..."

"And didn't," Claire finished under her breath, ducking a swat from Luna.

"Oh." Rino looked a little ashamed of himself, and made a little guilty glance at his sister, and was rewarded with a kick in the shins.

Chiron rolled his eyes. "Enough with the feeling sorry for the past. Tie him up and wake him. We need to talk to him."

"Don't bother." Shade grinned wickedly. He closed his eyes. Nico's eyes snapped open in almost the same instant. He began to writher violently, as if he was fighting invisible cords.

Ayden couldn't watch. She buried her head in Rino's shoulder, crying "Make him stop!" Nico looked like he was having a seizure. His jaws opened in a silent scream.

Shade sighed, and closed his eyes again. Touching Nico's mind, he gently paralyzed the boy, and forced him to calm down. Shade's eyes drifted open, and fluttered. He sat down, and was soon fast asleep. Playing with Nico's mind was harder than it looked - as a son of Hades, Nico had inherited similar powers to Shade, and didn't know how to control them. Shade had had to maintain his defenses carefully, while attempting to penetrate Nico's haphazard but iron strong barriers. Rino came over to stand a careful guard over the sleeping teen.

Nico stood; his face perfectly calm. The mind-bonds and paralysis had faded as Shade did. But, Nico had gained insight into Shade's mind as Shade tried to control him. Nico knew what was going on. He turned to Percy, and went down on his knees. "Percy, I'm sorry. That was unfair of me to believe you could have stopped my sister." Nico smiled grimly. "I should have known - we had to deal with each there for so many years." Nico turned to Chiron. "I'm no longer a naive little boy." Chiron nodded - Nico had had to deal with many things no one should ever have to deal with, including his sister's early death. Nico continued, "I'm ready to help bring down... him that really killed my sister." Finally, he said to Shade's motionless form, "I have you to thank, too, brother. You gave me a new sense of family, and helped me overcome barriers that could have been obstructive, if you hadn't indirectly told me about them." Nico knelt and, shoving Rino aside took Shade's hand and grasped it firmly. Without turning, Nico said softly, "Let's get him to some place better to sleep." Rino bent to help him, and together they lifted Shade up and away into the boys' tent.

"That was anticlimatic," Claire observed dryly.

"Since when do you know what that means?" Luna responded. During Nico's fit, neither had looked so much as startled, which was...odd.

"Wait, he's going to...bring down...a giant robot..." Thalia said slowly. "Is he serious?"

"Thalia, I think he meant _him_," Percy pointed out.

"Right. So from giant robot to titan lord. Got it."

Nico strode out of the boys' tent, closely followed by Rino. He nodded slowly. "I actually meant both..." he muttered, half to himself.

Thalia heard him anyway. "Fine. From giant robot to titan lord to giant robot and titan lord. Sounds like fun."

Nico sighed, turned away and grabbed his packs. He grinned at them, and turned transparent with ease. What he did next no one was prepared for. He lifted his fist to the sky, like a superhero (or a child of Iris), and shot upward. He dropped his fist about ten feet up, and hovered, surveying them from the air. He flipped onto his stomach, and leaned on his hands. "Watcha all staring at?" He asked, his grin nearly splitting his face.

At which point Claire broke the surprise-cloud-thing by throwing a bolt of bright orange light, which managed to singe Nico's hair. "WHAT THE HELL!" she shouted, waving her fists for emphasis. "YOU DO NOT DO SUPERHERO POSE! IT'S STUPID!"

Luna sighed and grabbed her arm, stopping her from throwing another bolt.

"She does have a point," Thalia shrugged. "And how are you flying anyway?"

Nico shrugged, the orange light hadn't affected him in the least. "I can't affect your world; your world can't affect me. Gravity is part of your world. Not mine." He drifted down a ways, and smacked Claire on the head. Not surprisingly, his hand went right through her. He sighed, and turned quickly back solid, backhanded her lightly, and turned back to transparent, lifting up and out of harms way (without doing the superhero pose).

Thalia rolled her eyes. "Sons of Hades...gods...so dramatic. And their powers make no sense."

Claire tried to grab his wrist with her right hand as he backhanded her, but only promptly overbalanced and nearly dragged Luna down into the dirt as well. Claire muttered a 'sorry' before flipping Nico off. Luna then promptly rapped the top of her head. "No."

Nico rolled his eyes back at Thalia, completely ignoring Claire. "I have powers over my, and your, and anyone else's mind. To fly, I simply force myself to except that the whole world is intimately connected to me, as I am intimately connected to the world. That changes my whole view of the universe around, and thus, in the new universe I have created, I can shift my force of gravity and let myself fly. But, like in Peter Pan, I had to believe I could before I could get my feet off the ground." Nico shrugged. "It's kinda hard to explain, but I can show you..." He fell silent, and scrunched his eyes closed. Seconds later, Ayden experienced this kind of shift in reality. She realized that this was what Nico had been talking about. She raised her eyes to the sky... and her feet LEFT THE GROUND! "Eeek!" she said softly. She looked down. She looked back up again, and willed herself up. She shot upward, rocketing towards the tree tops. She reached out, and grabbed on to one. She was giggling uncontrollably as she pretended to hold herself upside-down on the tree branch with only her pointer finger.

"Right, right," Thalia rolled her eyes. "Yeah, the other-Hades-kid already explained it, and I still maintain it makes no sense. Excuse me, but how exactly does god of the dead's kid equal mind-warping powers? Percy gets water, which makes sense because Poseidon's a sea god, and I get lightning, because my dad hurls lightning bolts."

Percy promptly interrupted. "How about we stop arguing and just be happy with our powers?" he suggested.

"I don't know how that is. Oh, well. It is what it is." Nico was unperturbed about the puzzle of how he got his strange powers. "Shall we continue? As I understand it, we still have to convince Luke to come back to our side, if we can, and stop Cronos-" A constricting coldness squeezed the clearing, threatening all the half-bloods.

Chiron actually fell over and twitched a couple times before falling unconscious. Rino and Ayden collapsed, and Shade sat up abruptly, before falling back into his stupor. Nico convulsed and fell, limbs flailing uncontrollably as he fought for air with the life he needed in it.

Suddenly, the constricting blanket melted away. Slowly, everyone came around, and gathered together. Except for one. Nico's eyes were open but unfocused. "Bianca... is it time?" he whispered, staring out into something un-see-able by anyone else. "Goodbye, world." Those were the last words Nico would ever say, as his eyes glazed over for forever. Nico had left the world of humans for good. But, if one looked carefully, one could see a shadow stand up from Nico's chest, and run towards another, slightly bigger and definitely feminine shadow. They embraced, turned, and were swallowed up by the ground.

"That was fast," Claire promptly broke the silence, as was her habit, and Luna promptly cuffed her hard.

The big question was how to actually react to Nico's death. On one hand, he'd died. Simple. On the other, he'd been reunited with Bianca and maybe his father.

Hades's children were annoying even when they were dead.

Chiron blinked slowly. "Goodbye, Nico." he said sadly. Nico wasn't truly gone forever, but he was in a safer place now.

Rino looked sad, and said slowly... "On the bright side, there is one less kid we have to worry about having the prophecy be about." He didn't look particularly happy.

"That is such a morbid way of looking at things," Claire commented.

"Claire, shut up. You are morbid."

Their comments were followed by moments of silence.

Chiron broke the silence by clapping his hands, loudly. "Bed. Now." He stated, and went to his sleeping bag.

And all too soon dawn arose. Chiron made sure everyone was loaded up, with their packs, and they turned and began to walk purposefully towards San Fransisco, and where they had last seen Luke.


	6. Chapter 6: Hello, Luke!

Luke was bored

Luke was bored.

He couldn't help it. After taking the winter and spring to heal from falling fifty feet, anything had sounded better than...lying in a bed all day. But there really wasn't that much to do in the Andromeda. Training did get boring eventually.

So he'd sent the afternoon guard a glare and they'd scurried off to...somewhere else on the ship. Whatever.

So now he was strolling on the deck of the Andromeda, Backbiter in its sheath, hands in his pockets. One of the brainwashed mortals was giving him a strange, evaluating look - well, strange for brainwashed standards. And maybe for female standards too, he wasn't sure.

Rino stood with Ayden. He whispered in her ear, "I don't like this ship. It's too... creepy." Ayden nodded, lips pressed tightly together.

Shade said very quietly to Claire, "Stop checking him out. That's gross, and it's not helping."

"I agree with emo boy," Luna hissed.

Claire glared at both of them. "I'll do whatever I very well please. And how is it gross?"

"He's six years older?"

Annabeth elbowed Claire, looking quite annoyed. "Later." As in never.

"Yeah, yeah. Who's gonna jump him?" Claire asked.

"I vote Thalia," Annabeth answered.

Shade shrugged. "Told you, Claire. I'll jump him. That's fun."

Rino nodded. "Better him than me."

"Right. You gonna jump him in the bathroom?" Claire sniggered, mostly because Luke had just disappeared into the bathroom. "I dare you to stuff his head down the toilet."

"I will never understand you," Luna grumbled.

"Sure. He's cornered there. Bar the door when I'm in with fire. I'll come out in the other reality when he's unconscious." Shade went all other-worldly and ghostly, and disappeared through the door without opening it.

Once inside the bathroom, he turned solid once more. He had his eyes on his target, Luke, who was just finishing up. No one else was there. Shade opened his mind, and checked again. There was no other presence in the room, only him and Luke. Silent as a cat, Shade stalked his victim - making quite sure he wasn't reflected by the mirrors. Luke never knew what hit him as Shade jumped him from behind and bounced the handles of the knives in his hands hard against Hermes' son's temples. Shade felt Luke crumple, and, like a cat, jumped clear. The other boy hit the ground with a final-sounding resounding thud. Shade grimaced. "I really don't like jumping people - it's not fair if they don't know I exist." Suddenly, a grin crossed his face. Grabbing Luke's shoulders, Shade hauled him to the nearby toilet stall, and dunked him. The water was clear at first, but still. Shade crossed to the door, and pressed his hand against it. No sign of fire. "Guys, it's me. Luke's out. I'll get him through the door, and then let's go." Shade flitted through the closed door, gave everyone a big wave, and flitted back. Turning solid once more, he faced the Luke's motionless body. "Let's go," he grunted, hoisting the larger boy across his shoulders. He shouldered through the door, his cargo continuing to be perfectly still and quiet. Quickly, thinking that Luke might be faking, Shade grabbed his hand and checked his pulse. It was slower than normal, but steady. Shade knew that no one, no matter how powerful, could trick a pulse. Luke was knocked out, for now. But Shade knew that with Luke's strong, healthy body, it wouldn't be long before he was conscious once more. They had to be back to the forest camp by then. Shade, still with Luke slung across his back, flung himself over the rail of the Andromeda to the waiting dolphins below. He turned upward to look at Claire. "You dared me to stuff his head in a toilet. Guess what? The water was clear before, but a little creamy after. He dyes his hair."

"Huh. Pretty and or angst boy dyes his hair," Claire giggled, palming her hairclip-bow in case she'd need it. It was going pretty well so far, and Claire was a firm believer in Murphy's law. Luna did the same, also a Murphy's law supporter. "So how are we getting out of here again?" She could be really, really oblivious.

Shade sighed. "I'm sitting down here, on a dolphin. You can guess how we're getting out. Just jump. Now."

"But it's wet," Claire complained. Luna promptly pushed her off the ship anyway. Claire tumbled headfirst off the railing, shrieking loudly.

"Damnit," Luna sighed. That shriek would definitely attract attention they did not want. Luna jumped off after her, followed by Thalia. Annabeth and Percy had already gotten into the water. Everyone else had stayed behind at the meeting spot, since it was too risky to send everyone to the Princess Andromeda.

"Everyone here? Let's go." Percy whistled - the need for silence was over - and the dolphins sped through the waves

Shade made sure Luke's body was slung firmly across the dolphin they were sharing, and touched his heels to the dolphin's side. The dolphin shot off like a bullet. "Oh boy," Shade hissed as he was dragged along.

On the beach, Chiron watched the approaching dolphins carefully. In his hands, he held Blues', Night's and Flame's reins. When the dolphins reached to as far as they were going to go, he trotted out, splashing the water all around. He grabbed Luke first, slinging the unconscious boy over his own back. Then he helped Shade out of the water, then Claire, Luna, Annabeth, Percy, Rino and Ayden. Shade climbed up behind Luke, while Blues went and corralled Claire and Luna, Night went to Rino and Ayden and Flame danced in front of Annabeth and Percy. Chiron galloped out of the water, and shouted "Everyone up - we have got to go!" With that, he took off cantering towards the forest camp.

And they did, all mounting the various horses. Claire complaining quietly and incessantly to Luna about the state of her clothes. Luna, being her twin, recognized it as Claire's way of blowing off steam and simply let her go on. Percy, as he was riding Flame with Annabeth sitting behind him, was blushing and trying not to think too hard. Annabeth didn't notice.

Rino, in control of Night, noticed Percy's obvious discomfort, and hid his smile behind a mask of concentration. He didn't have that trouble - the girl clinging to his waist was his sister - his twin - and not someone he could get to know that way.  
Of course, Percy had no idea what Rino was thinking (because Percy was trying not to think too hard. Which really wasn't a great idea).

By now, Claire had gotten bored about complaining about her sea-soaked clothes, and began to whine in favor of boredom in general. "Are we there yet?"

"No."

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"Are we not there yet?"

"Yes."

"Damn."

Chiron stopped in the center of camp. Shade jumped down off his back, and slung Luke down as well. Shade checked the blond boy's pulse - almost back to normal. He felt Luke starting to stir beneath him... crap. Shade ran and got the rope from his tent, and an acceptable gag. "We don't need him screaming his lungs out," he muttered, mostly to himself. Shade tied Luke's wrists and ankles together, using good, strong knots. Then he tied the gag in place, and sat down to wait.

Claire didn't bother waiting, claiming she was bored and didn't "feel like watching dyed-hair-emo-boy wake up" at which Luna dragged her off lest Annabeth or Thalia get too pissed off. Annabeth looked like she wanted to strangle someone, and Thalia was pointedly not looking at anyone. Percy looked as equally murderous as Annabeth (though not likely for the same reasons) and Grover just looked plain nervous.

Luke did not wake up with the violence one would expect of someone knocked out in the bathroom. Instead, he cracked open one eyelid and was met with...a face-full of dirt. It was a good thing there was a gag, because Hermes's son's first word upon being back in the world of the living was likely not family friendly. He tried to sit up, but that was a bit hard when your wrists and ankles were tied together. More inappropriate words.

Shade noticed Luke's struggles, and flipped him over. Rino and Ayden instantly took places at his side as Shade reached towards Luke's hand ties and gag. He dropped the gag - smacked Luke as a warning not to say anything... inappropriate. He didn't completely unfetter the other boy's hands, just gave him a little more space in between the knots.

Luke spat out a stray strand of rope and glared at Shade, looking quite ready to throttle the other teen despite being bound and all, but instead simply sat up. "Who're you?" he asked the three half-bloods, eyes narrowed. "I don't recognize any of you."

Ayden grimaced and Rino shifted uncomfortably. Both sets of dark eyes began to glimmer with flame, and their hands were burning lightly. Neither would say anything. Shade placed a hand on their shoulders, half for restraint and half for comfort.

Shade gave Luke a sly grin. "I'm Shade. These two are dangerous. I would not suggest prying."

Luke smirked hollowly in response. "Hestia, then. Charlotte does the same thing when she gets pissed." His gaze shifted to Annabeth and Thalia. "Nice to see you two again. Pity it always has to be at sword-point." Neither said a word - Thalia looked away, Annabeth gave a little shrug. "So, any special reason why I got ambushed in the bathroom?"

Shade shrugged. "You were contained, and out of sight from your warriors, who would have stopped us. Hey - don't take it out on me, I waited until you finished - OW!" Rino elbowed the son of Hades in the gut, and stepped forward to bear down on look.

Rino slapped the bound boy across the cheek, eyes glittering with hardly suppressed anger. "Wipe that smirk off your face, messenger boy." Shade reached around Rino, pressing his palms against the flaming boy's temples.

"Chill, man. Seriously."

Rino whirled on him. "That # boy had my father killed!" he shouted.

Shade grabbed him again, and Rino's eyes closed, sadness mixed with anger etching lines in his face. "Chill," said Shade. Rino stepped away from Hades' son, and shook his head briefly, tears gathering. Shade pressed him down, forcing him to sit and then lie down. Rino obeyed, barely. Shade brushed his temples one last time, and Rino's eyes closed again, his face relaxing. Shade turned to Ayden, and motioned at Rino. Ayden nodded, and sat beside her brother, taking his head in her lap. She started humming softly, and Shade turned back to Luke, and shook him. "Is that true?" he demanded, voice icy cold.

Luke met Shade's eyes with his own, equally cold, ones. "And if it was?" he demanded. "Do I have to tell you that I'm not a mind reader, or can you figure it out for yourselves? I don't know that kid's name, much less his father." Hermes's son shrugged. "And have you noticed there have been many casualties caused by this war already, and not all of them by me or my lord?"

"He sure can talk fancy," a voice observed dryly. Claire and Luna were back, and, surprisingly enough, it had been Claire that had made that comment, instead of Luna.

"He has a point, though," Luna pointed out. "There's no reason why monsters can't have lives or emotions the way we do, and yet humans go around parading like they own the earth anyway, so certain everything they do is justified."

"Do I get to ask who they are?" Luke said sarcastically. "Because they sure as hell sound like they're on _his_ side."

Luna looked sorely tempted to flip him off, and Claire answered. "Claire and Luna Aestas, daughters of Apollo. I'm not exactly a fan of hitting more-or-less defenseless people, but if you want I could bend it for you," she smiled sweetly. "We're not on _his_ side. We like our mom and a bunch of other humans too much to wipe them all out."

Shade stepped between them and Luke. "Don't give out too much personal information - bad idea. If Luke here ever gets back to the... Titan lord, he'll have some nasty information for the superbad things." Turning back to Luke, he said softly, "Simply because they don't have names and personalities to you, doesn't mean that they aren't someone's father, brother, son or uncle. They all have families, and they all have friends. Does that mean anything to you, you heartless creature? You're talking of murders in numbers - not names. You're crossing the point of no return."

Ayden sat beside her brother, stroking his hair. "Rino, Rino, Rino. What am I to do with you? Learn to control yourself - Shade and I can't look after you all the time." Rino murmured something unintelligible in his stupor. Ayden grinned down at her helpless brother, so innocent in his sleep. All the worry lines, stress and hate had faded from his face, leaving him unprotected. His eyelids fluttered, and his fingers twitched occasionally from dreams, yet he was so... fragile. Like he could be broken at a moment's notice. Ayden pressed a glowing hand to his forehead, and the spell was broken.

Rino slowly came out of his spelled sleep, and smiled up at his twin. "I'm such a fool," he whispered hoarsely.

Ayden smiled. "Glad you figured that one out, bro."

Claire giggled. "Come on, emo-boy-one; don't tell me you can't think up a better word than superbad." Apparently she was back to her not-serious personality, and Luna muttered a word that sounded suspiciously annoyed.

Luke glared right back. Again. "And has it occurred to you that humanity is doing the exact same thing on a greater scale? Tell me, how many animals, mythical or otherwise, do you think humanity kills in a day with their pollution and gluttony? How many of their own species do they humiliate, drive out of their homes, kill? And all of them have families and friends that will mourn for them, and then they seek vengeance, and then the cycle repeats itself. It's a never-ending circle of destruction that will only get worse with each year."

Shade whirled at Claire. "Shut your trap." he said menacingly. He threw a ball of dark substance at her, silencing her. Then, he brushed her head, making sure she couldn't counter it with her own magic.

Composing himself again, he turned back to Luke. "Do you really think that that cycle will change with _him_ in charge? If anything, the entire human race will be wiped out in the massive god-on-god war."

Getting rather bored, Claire began miming very annoyed actions while Shade was looking, while he appeared not to notice. When he wasn't looking, she started to do very insulting ones.

"And then the rest of the earth will have its chance to live and flourish in the absence of humans. What do you think?" Luke did not look particularly enthusiastic about his idea.

Rather unfortunately for Claire, Shade had noticed her actions. Shade flicked his wrist at her - paralyzing her for the moment. "If humans didn't exist, neither would you, me, or Annabeth, or Thalia. I know you obviously don't care for me, you've shown that pretty darn clearly, but I know you at least care for Annabeth and Thalia - I've heard the story of Half-blood Hill, and Thalia's tree." Shade turned his back on Luke, and everyone else for that matter, and his lips moved in silent prayer.

There was a flash of light, and Hermes stood before the assembled crowd, staff and snakes in hand. He was not dressed in a disguise, but appeared as a mortal-sized version of himself, an obvious god. His two snakes twined around and around his staff. He put his hand briefly on Shade's shoulder, and then crossed to his son. Tears glittered in his eyes. "Luke... I don't know what to say. You have tried to bring me, and all I stand for, down. Yet now you lay at my feet - the prisoner of your old friends. What did I do that made you betray them?" Rage and sorrow filled the god's voice as he spoke the unthinkable. "I should smite you where you stand, Luke. For what you have done, and for what you still could do." Hermes raised his staff, his face set. "I don't know you any more, Luke. Tell me why you don't deserve to die."

"I'm not," Luke said back, voice emotionless as a block of stone. "I should ask you, what did you do, what have you done and what will you do? The gods condoned the spreading and pollution of the humans, and I have already given my reasons as to why. If you have not heard them yet, ask my interrogator." He smiled mirthlessly. It was a gruesome sight, like the fleshless smile of a skeleton. "I daresay you two would get along well enough."

"So you are saying I should kill you. Luke, do you really want to die? I'll take you down and cast you into Tartarus myself, just say the word." Hermes looked sad, and like he wanted an escape route, but nevertheless, his staff began to glow.

Shade stepped between them. "Luke - not even _he_ can bring you back if you die. It's a one-way road, unless the God himself has a blood attachment to you, like with Nico, Bianca and I. I should know - I've become as dead as I can be, being the son of Death and all. It's not fun, and I was spoiled half-rotten down there. Beg for your life, whatever its worth, because the punishments my father has in store for you are a lot worse than you could ever imagine. And even if you don't beg for your life, I will, because I won't watch you die."

"When did I say I wanted to die?" his flat voice interrupted Hermes. "I gave you my reasons, and you are here to pass judgement, like the god you are. Whether I beg mercy or not, my life is still in your hands." There was no trace of sarcasm in his voice, but plenty of bitterness. To Shade, he added, "I didn't know you cared."

Shade mumbled something inaudible, and scuffed his feet. "I've been in your place before... not with_ him,_ but with Hades. How do I know? I can touch your memories at will. That's what I died for - I felt everything was done, and I was supposed to go where I still had family left - my father and my step-mother, Persephone. But I couldn't die... not in the same sense you can. Just like Nico and Bianca aren't truly dead. I can call them to me, if I must. I was given my freedom because... well, that's a long story." Shade grimaced and Hermes looked on knowingly, and a shudder of pain rippled through Shade's frame. He shook slightly. "The price I pay is hard."

Hermes took the opportunity to raise his son up onto his feet. "You're right, like always, that I could choose either way, like you said. But, Luke, are you really happy serving the Titan Lord? I know you've tried to bring your friends to your cause, but they're steadfast in their loyalty to the Olympians. If _he_ succeeds in _his_ war, they will die - everyone in this clearing, everyone at Half-blood Hill, everyone who didn't know they were who they were. That includes Annabeth, Thalia, and everyone else you got to know. And possibly your mother, too. Yes, as gods, we the Olympians make mistakes. Yes, the human race kills each other and animals. But do you truly think that _he_ is any better, any kinder, any more immune to mistakes?"

"Not really."

They were two simple words, just two, and yet they were probably the most important words he'd ever said. Luke glanced indecisively at Shade and then his rope bindings, not sure if he should help him or not (or if he even could).

Luna grumbled something about something no one could make out, then, to the utter shock of everyone aside from Claire who was paralyzed, stepped forward and wrapped an arm around Shade's shoulders, stroking, with difficulty, the taller teen's hair and making soft, soothing noises.

Shade put his hand on Luna's shoulder, leaning a little on her. He looked a little shaky, but he would survive. Slowly, he managed to stand by himself, still pale but looking better. He cautiously put his arm around Luna's shoulders. "Thank you," he said quietly.

Luna made a dissenting noise then, as much as the essence of the simple phrase "whatever" as anything could ever be. Shade gave a little, halfhearted smile and shook Luna's hand out of his hair. "That tickles,"

"Good." Luna stepped back, reverting back to "bored" mode

Hermes looked really puzzled. "Then why do you serve him, if you don't think he'll be any better?" he asked Luke.

"Because I have no other purpose," Luke said simply.

Hermes shook his head. "You have no purpose, so you go and work for someone who intends to turn the universe upside-down, who you really don't think will be any different from the gods in place. Luke, Father would have simply struck you down, no questions asked. You act as if you want to die, but then you say you don't want to."

"Whoopee, a temperamental grandfather. Have you ever heard the Titan Lord speak? He can search through all your fears, hopes and dreams, nightmares and sorrows alike, picking them out to use as he wills. He can, and he will."

Hermes scowled. "You know perfectly well that Zeus is my father, and your grandfather, and that he is well known for killing his own children. He wouldn't think twice about you. Do you want me to put you out of your misery, traitor?"

Shade gently drew the temperamental god away from his son. "Luke, I can... I can block your mind, if you want. You could be free, even from me. Now, granted, I could still knock you out that way, but I wouldn't be able to pick through your head, and neither would _he_. It would take time but I'd be willing, if you are." Shade knew that he was offering a lot, perhaps even his life for Luke's. But he wasn't about to say that.

"I thought we already discussed this..." Luke muttered. To Shade, he added, "That'd be...nice...but wouldn't that be extremely difficult and just maybe a bit inconvenient?" All right, more than.

Shade shrugged. "Maybe." He closed his eyes. "But it would last as long as you live, and the benefits would largely outweigh the not-so-good-parts." Shade took a step closer, and put his mouth almost to Luke's ear. "Just trust me with this, okay?" He step back.

"If you insist," Luke said dubiously.

Luna spoke up then. "If you're going to spend a lot of time blocking off his mind, could you un-paralyze Claire now?" she asked, jerking a thumb in the direction of her sister. "Because, you know, the longer you put it off, the more annoying she'll be at the very end."

Shade gave Luna a wicked grin. "Whatever - you deal with her. If it's alright with you though, I think I'll leave the gag on - I'll need peace and quiet." Shade didn't even move, but released Claire from the paralysis. "And I do insist, Luke." Luke's bonds fell away, but a ghost like hand remained on his shoulder, keeping him where he was. "Sorry - I just don't want to take chances."

Hermes frowned. "Are you sure this is going to work?" he asked. Shade nodded. "Okay - I'm leaving now." Hermes disappeared in a flash of light.

Luna rolled her eyes and Claire promptly began miming her annoyance. Luna snickered and rapped Claire's forehead with a finger. "Come on, let's go do something fun." So saying, Luna dragged off her annoyed looking-and-acting twin.

Luke grumbled something about ghost hands being better than ropes. Annabeth and Thalia who, surprisingly enough, hadn't said a word the whole long and dramatic conversation remained seated comfortably on the ground, while Percy and Grover went off - let's hope they weren't going to talk more video games.

Shade grabbed Luke's wrists and strode off to the other end the clearing to sit, pulling the blond teen with him. "Close your eyes." Shade said, closing his. He put his fingertips on Luke's temples, and began to pull together his power...

Shade felt Luke's eyes close beneath his fingertips. He let his mind flow down his arms and through his fingers into Luke's head, and mind. He was met with a whirl of thoughts. Luke didn't - couldn't - know he wasn't alone anymore, judging by the thoughts in his head. Shade did his best to ignore them, because a person has got to have some privacy. He focused his attention on the outer 'walls' of Luke's mind. They were virtually non-existent. _He_ had torn through Luke's mind so many times, ripping apart a different section of wall each time. Shade sighed. He began to pour his magic into barriers, protecting and sealing Luke into his own head.

Shade re-entered his own body, frozen precisely as he had left it. He opened his eyes for a split second, dropping his arms, before he toppled over onto the ground and blackness enveloped him. _I'm not going to die!_ He thought incredulously. Dying was a piercing red light, driving breath from everywhere. It was painful, and very boring. This was a soft black, catching him like a blanket. Shade had felt it too many times before, but didn't mind it as much as the red. He let himself fall into the blanket of unconsciousness. He felt Luke pick him up, and blacked out completely.

Luke felt Shade retreat from his mind and opened his eyes in time to see Shade. Unconscious. Luke sighed heavily. He picked the other boy up in a fireman's carry, grumbling something about no planning and things like that. _Where the hell is he supposed to go?_ He brushed Rino on the way to nowhere.

Rino and Ayden both looked up at Luke. Rino looked really confused, but Ayden seemed to understand. "Put him on the blue sleeping bag in the boys' tent - the leaning one," she said

Thalia, watching with Annabeth, said, "I bet you a drachma he's gay."

Annabeth said flatly, "No, Thalia. Just _no_."

"I didn't say which one, now did I?"

"I'm fairly sure they'd both be extremely pissed at you."

"Yeah, probably."

Chiron strode up behind Thalia and smacked her firmly on the head. "Annabeth is right, young halfblood - sexual orientations are not an appropriate thing to bet on."

Luke muttered something about unnatural boys with the strangest sense of timing and other things all the way to said sleeping bag. He put Shade down and then realized he had absolutely no idea what to do now. Plus he had no sleeping bag. He sighed. He hated being ambushed in the bathroom. He glanced around the clearing. The others, tent, packs, horses...mhm. No. Nothing. Then there were the trees...Eh. Why not? He hadn't done it in a while, so Luke approached the trees cautiously, finding one that seemed easy to climb, and did so. Eventually, he climbed high enough – out-of-reach-from-the-ground, even from, say, horseback – and sat in a nice branch, nestled against the trunk and, bored, plucked a leaf and started toying with it. From captain of a luxury cruise ship to sitting in a tree in less than a day. Wonderful.

Thalia rubbed said afflicted spot on her head, grumbling. "Geez, you people are no fun. Now, the Hunters, they actually know how to have fun."

Annabeth stared at her in disbelief. "You mean...?"

"Yeah. Popular theory is that Apollo's bi. Artemis supports it too."

Annabeth groaned. "There goes all my desire to be a Hunter."

"You had any?"

"Well, not really..."

Rino spotted Luke in the tree. He tried to lift himself up with his fire, but that didn't work. Eventually he just climbed the tree, and sat on a branch near Luke. "You okay, Luke? My name's Rino... though I think you figured that out. Look, Shade didn't mean to be so... random. I'm pretty sure that he thought he was going to die trying to defend you, but he did it anyway. He's a little strange at times, but he always does what he thinks is best. And he's usually right on track." Rino sighed. "He acts the way he does, I think, to get attention. He knows how to act... better, but he doesn't, because then people aren't always pulling on his arm, trying to get him to stop doing whatever he's doing." Rino sighed, and put his head back against the branch.

"Right." Luke shifted uncomfortably on the branch, trying to figure out exactly what he was trying to say. "Uh...I'm sorry about your father and stuff..." Sigh. If he'd known it was going to be this awkward, Luke never would have tried apologizing.

Rino stared down at the ground. "You weren't there... it was only a year ago. You might not have been with the Titan Lord then, but you were..." Rino trailed off, knowing he was making excuses. "I was wrong to just... attack you like that." Rino watched as he swung his legs around a bit, and then turned to Luke. "Do you feel any different... after Shade's... you know... session?"

"I guess...I can't really tell the difference unless I concentrate. Manipulating minds has never been my specialty," Luke said.

Rino grinned. "Me neither - I leave that up to Shade. He once made another child of the Big Three believe he - the kid, I mean - was talking to a tree. It was... interesting."

"Talking to a tree? Do I really want to know?" Really. Kids were crazy these days but then again, they probably always were.

"It was kinda creepy. Then the kid died... he said _his_ name aloud... and this feeling crept through the clearing... and knocked about half of us out, Shade and Chiron included, and managed to kill Nico, the boy. But then... you know the conversation where Shade said he had died - as much as he could? It makes me wonder if Nico's really dead... Thalia wasn't, Shade is obviously still alive... maybe Bianca and Nico are too, in their dad's world. 'Cause when Nico... appeared to have died... this black shadow rose out from his body, and raced to another shadow, which looked bigger and feminine, and then they both were swallowed up by the ground. Kinda strange... and not what happens to most people when they die. Or at least not what happened to my dad... this strange light hit him, and disappeared. Now that I think about it, the light was probably Hermes, coming to ferry my dad to the Underworld... When did you find out you were a half-blood?"

"About...seven years ago," Luke shrugged. "I was fourteen, we were studying Greek mythology in school, and my mom decided it was a convenient excuse to tell me about...yeah. It was really anticlimactic. Not that there was one."

"I got captured by this lot and had no clue as to who they were or why Chiron was half horse, and then my twin, Ayden, wanders into the clearing and says hi to Chiron. He asks her if she knows who her mother was, and while I had no idea who the Olympians were, she knew everything, including that our mother was Hestia. Apparently, while we were away from each other, she found a book about Greek mythology and put the pieces together."

"...That was considerably more eventful than mine," Luke decided. There was really not much more to say.

"Almost half the group has been captured by the other half. Me, Ayden, you, Claire and Luna were all captured... first me, then Ayden, then Claire and Luna together, then you. I wonder if we'll have any more prisoners. Did you really hold up the sky?"

"That's not half," a female voice pointed out that was definitely not Luke. Claire clambered on the branch below, grinning annoyingly, and was quickly followed by Luna. "Claire wanted to annoy you two until Shade wakes up and she can go back to annoying everyone," Luna continued, anticipating the next question. "And she refused to leave me alone because she can't really talk. Hi."

"This day keeps getting weirder and weirder," Luke muttered.

"I kind of guessed that." Apparently Luna had pretty good ears.

Rino looked really confused, tossing a flame-rope down to Ayden, who was staring quizzically at the tree, wondering how they had managed to get up it. She grabbed the flame-rope, and Rino hauled her up onto his branch. "How is this weirder than what just happened?"

"Well, it seems at least one of them's insane," Luke answered. Claire and Luna exchanged looks, likely wondering which one he meant. Luke didn't elaborate.

Rino and Ayden exchanged looks too. Ayden finally piped up, "What?"

"No, one of them," Luke said.

Claire grinned, Luna rolled her eyes. "Her," she said, jerking her thumb over in Claire's direction.

Several feet below them, Shade sat up with a groan. His head... his - wait. How am I alive? That should have killed me, meddling with Luke's head like that. Shade decided to go out and see if the rest of the world had survived as well, despite his aching head. He slid out of the tent, blinking furiously in the sun.

Claire noticed first, and promptly began poking Luna. "Ow, stop that," Luna said irritably, swatting Claire's hand away. "Now what?" Claire pointed, and Luna glanced down. "Oh. Shade's awake."

"He looks like he has a headache," Luke observed.

"Or the sun's on too high. Claire, don't bother him yet. I bet he'd just make you back into a puppet again." Claire pouted, but actually obeyed.

Rino nodded in agreement - Shade looked like he was in a heck of a lot of pain, from either the sun, or the head he was holding in his hands.

Shade picked his head up, hearing their voices. He waved kinda half-heartedly, taking the gag off Claire at the same time.

"Huh. Emoboy's nice," were Claire's first words upon regaining her power of speech.

"You just noticed." Luna's contribution. "Anyone in the camp a healer?" she asked Rino and Ayden, who'd technically been there the longest out of the tree-group.

"Aren't you two daughters of Apollo?" Luke asked.

"Yeah. We don't really do healing. Never learned how," Luna shrugged.

Rino shrugged. Ayden looked confused. "Maybe with enough time and trial and error I could use my fire for healing, but there would be a lot of mistakes - I'm not really well trained. Why? Is it urgent?"

"Dunno," Claire took over. "It just seems all mean to leave someone with a headache."

"Especially when he just turned you back from a mute." Luna added.

"Technically, that was his fault too. But still," Claire shrugged, meaning that the flamethrower should do whatever he wanted to the emo boy.

Luna looked at Ayden. "Are you sure you can heal?" she asked quietly.

Ayden shrugged, then frowned for a moment. "I think I can - If I can't, he'll be no worse off than before. HEY! SHADE! COME ON UP HERE!" she ended her phrase in a shout so that the boy sitting on a tree stump rubbing his temples would hear her.

"Are we going by the logic that if he can climb up here he doesn't need help?" Claire asked brightly.

"Shut up," was Luna's eloquent response.

Ayden shrugged off the twins' bickering and turned her attention back to Shade. He was struggling to climb the tree. And, as it turned out, Shade couldn't climb the tree. He couldn't even get both his feet off the ground. Ayden eventually had to wrap him in fire and lift him straight off the ground to get him on the branch. He groaned, blinking rapidly for a second before collapsing into Ayden's lap.

"EW! Gross!" Ayden shoved him away to lean against the trunk of the tree. She touched his head with glowing fingers and swung down from the tree.

"That looks painful," Claire said blithely.

"Stop making unnecessary comments," Luna ordered.

"No."

"You're the one who likes playing with fire anyway." observed Luna.

"Aaand your point is?"

Rino shrugged. "I play with fire, too." and swung down after his twin.

Claire giggled. "See, Luna, you're _special_." She emphasized the word the same way people did as in "specially insane" or something along those lines. "You're the only one who doesn't like fire!"

Luna gave her twin a death glare, then turned. "Are you a pyromaniac too?" Luna asked Luke.

Luke was spared a reply when Chiron clapped his hands. "Tents, now!" he said, as it was getting quite dark. "In the morning we move onward. Rino," Chiron beckoned.

Rino came over and Chiron said something in his ear. Rino nodded, and clambered back up the tree. He sat next to Luke, and stared at his twisting hands. "I'm sorry, but... well... Chiron said can't let you leave... in fact we can't let any risk of you leaving exist... so... I'm sorry..." Rino was making no sense to himself. "I have to knock you out." Rino snapped his fingers, a little sprout of flame shooting skyward.

"It's headache-y," Claire chimed in happily.

"And that makes you happy," Luna muttered.

Luke winced. "I really could have been happier not knowing. Just get it over with. And turn that light off." he growled, waving at the fire dancing on Rino's fingers.

"It doesn't hurt!" Rino exclaimed. "That was only when I didn't have any control!" Blushing, he let the little spark die from his fingers. "Anyway, if I just came up here and knocked you out, that would be uncomfortable. For both of us. And I wouldn't have been able to get you down from the tree. And it won't hurt half as bad as Shade slamming the hilts of his knives into your head... sorry..."

"He has knives?" Claire asked, interested.

"Are you going to go back to the emo-boy routine?"

"Ehhh, probably."

Luke ignored the two bickering (again). "Fine. Back to the bottom it is." He began to climb down, quickly and easily.

Claire broke off to announce, "He's not emo-boy-two any more, he's emo-monkey!" Not exactly an improvement. Luke kept ignoring her.

Rino slid off the branch after Luke, copying him in ignoring the bickering twins. He caught up easily to the other teen, and caught his wrist. "Look, I'm sorry. If it makes you feel any better, they had me in a drugged sleep for almost two weeks when I first met these guys. I wasn't really wide awake before that, anyway. Sometimes pain can be almost as good a decision-duller as drugs..." Rino continued muttering to himself about how rude and perverse this whole idea of capturing halfbloods was as he brushed Luke's forehead with his fingers, and did his best to catch the bigger boy when he fell. Rino could feel Luke's body relax as he began to tow his burden into the boy's tent.

Claire and Luna followed them down, continuing their bickering until they were at the girls' tent, Claire cutting herself off mid-word. It was obvious they were intending to continue it in the morning (though Claire would probably have forgotten and mornings were not exactly Luna's favorite time of the day).


	7. Chapter 7: Poodles for Dinner?

Shade opened his eyes in an unfamiliar place

Shade opened his eyes in an unfamiliar place. He blinked, and sat up. The room spun, then settled once more. He was in the boy's tent, like always. With a sigh, he started to struggle up and get ready for another day of travelling. Rino was already dressed, and bent over Luke's prone body. Shade could guess enough that Chiron had ordered Rino to knock Luke out the night before. "Don't wake him up," Shade suggested wearily. "Chiron will only want to put him under again later. And it will save us all some dignity. In fact, put him really well under, so we don't have to worry about him for a while." Rino nodded disgustedly, but did as Shade recommended.

Claire woke up loudly in the girls' tent, the same way she always did - waking up Luna. "Atrociously good morning to you," she said cheerfully (and loudly, of course), ducking a swat from Luna.

"Shut up," Luna said, muffled into her pillow.

"Naaaaaah. Besides, everyone else is awake."

"Now," Annabeth called from her sleeping bag. Claire was very noisy.

"Yes yes yes. You all should be thankful I'm acting as your ultimately annoying alarm clock."

Ayden groaned into wakefullness, but started to get ready. She joined her brother outside and helped him get Luke situated on Blues the pegasus. Then Rino got up behind him, and Ayden followed him.

Once everyone was situated...

Rino frowned at Luke's back, and decided that the boy couldn't cause trouble from a horse's back. So, he woke him up. It didn't seem right, to leave him unconscious and not knowing where in the world he was going.

Luke woke up instantly, and glowered at the horse in front of him. "I'd say good morning, but I hate mornings and first I want to know why I'm on a horse." Well, he definitely wasn't sleepy.

Rino wasn't very surprised at Luke's instant 'lights on'. "You're on a horse because Chiron decided to move camp. How do you feel?"

Luke considered it. "Bored," he decided. "You woke me up to ask me that?"

"It could be worse," Luna spoke up from across the clearing. "Claire could have woken you up."

"Don't be ridiculous. There's nothing out here to make things explode with." Claire scolded.

"I'm sure if you tried, you could have found a way." Luna sighed.

Alex and Sky trotted over excitedly. The little girl and her strangely mixed species friend seemed way too wide awake. "I want grape juice," announced Alex, to be ignored by basically everyone.

"Great, kid. Thanks to Rino had the brilliant idea to wake me up. If that's all, can I go back to sleep?" Luke continued scowling at Blues.

"You know what?" Luna said. "Claire, find something to explode anyway."

"Yay!"

Luke groaned.Rino shrugged. If Luke wanted to sleep, that was his business. "Sure." Rino brushed his glowing fingers against Luke's temple, and steadied him against the horse he so despised. "Any last words?" he asked the almost asleep boy.

"Shut up?" he offered, and went the rest of the way into slumber.

"And here I was thinking it'd be along the lines of, 'don't blow anything up,'" Luna commented.

"We will anyway."

"Just make sure to give everyone plenty of warning."

Rino busily ignored the twins and occupied himself with staring at Luke's back in a disappointed fashion. He leaned back against his twin behind him. "Wake me if anything happens," he ordered, and dozed off. Ayden barely registered her brother, too busy with Apollo's twins. "What if we don't want a warning?" she asked. "What if we'd prefer to die in our sleep?"

"Then we'll be sure to tell you," Claire said cheerfully.

"Don't worry," Luna said dismissively. "She doesn't blow things up that badly. Mostly all they do is scatter fire all over the place. It's easy to put out."

"Luna, there are two ways a bomb can kill you. Shrapnel and sound waves. I never have shrapnel. You can't put out sound waves."

"And you actually know that _how_?"

"I forget," Claire grinned.

"She better not blow up the forest," Grover muttered, not loud enough for anyone to hear. "It's bad enough when humans are just being selfish. Worse when it's for fun."

"I'll plug my ears, then!" Ayden offered, shifting her brother's weight.

Luna shook her head, ignoring Grover. "That'd make it worse. Then your eardrums might pop from the pressure."

"The trick is to be all relaaaaaxed," Claire grinned, not bothering to keep a straight face. "Like, if you clench your jaw, boom, there goes all your teeth." She promptly dissolved into giggles.

"Shut up," Ayden sighed.

And the day passed. Later, after the tents had been set up (with struggle), Chiron called the Half-bloods together at the center of camp. "Bring Luke." he ordered. Rino did so, setting the blonde boy's body down in the center of the circle. Chiron beckoned to Claire, Luna, Ayden, Rino and Shade to bind Luke, not listening to Rino's protests. Rino responded with a glowing strand of fire around Luke's hands. "Is there any way to make that look more... rope-ish?" Chiron asked. Rino scowled, and the fire turned into an apparently normal fiberish rope. "Wake him." Chiron ordered. Rino scowled deeper, but touched glowing fingers to Luke's head.

The first thing Luke said was, "Face down in the dirt. You really know how to wake someone up." Rino blushed deeply and turned away, trying to hide his beet-red face.

Claire bent down, poking Luke over until he was on his back.

"Oh."

"Oh," Claire agreed.

"So...I get to be more entertainment?"

"Yeah, we were planning on shaving your hair and selling it to the monkey-boy fans."

"Since when does he have fans?" Luna asked skeptically.

Rino blushed deeply and turned away, trying to hide his beet-red face.

Chiron scowled at everything in general and asked Luke, "So, you want to join us? Perhaps I should make it clear your choices are to join us or... um... die."

"Didn't we already establish this?" Luke asked.

"Dunno, I got lost among all the death threats," Claire shrugged.

"I think that's a yes," Luna said, ignoring her twin.

Chiron closed his eyes, regaining his self control. "How do I know that the instant we release you, you won't turn around and attack us?"

"You know, you really don't," Luke said thoughtfully. Yes. He was being very helpful.

Chiron sighed and buried his head in his hands. He was gathering his nerve to ask another question when Rino piped up. Again. "You know, this is pointless. We're a strong group of half-bloods, all with the gifts of our... divine parentage. We could easily catch one renegade. We might as well just accept him as one of us, or dump his body and send him to Hades." Shade nodded in agreement, Ayden gave her brother a quick hug.

Tyson looked confused. "What about him?" he asked.

Shade narrowed his eyes. "What about what about him?" he shot back, only confusing the situation more.

"We's all got... gifts. What about him?" Tyson struggled to say his idea.

Shade nodded slowly. "Yah, Luke, have you noticed anything weird... that you can... do?"

"He can talk pretty," Claire volunteered, grinning.

"No, that's called being overly melodramatic," Luna countered.

"Nonono, I think Hermes was some god of those talky guys," Claire argued.

"Politicians? Did they even _have_ politicians?"

"Maybe? 'Sides, merchants sell stuff, it counts."

"So...he can talk 'pretty.'"

"Eeee-yup!"

"That's useful."

"He can bore enemies to death," Claire offered.

"Shut _up_ already," Luke grumbled, looking like he would have dearly liked to hurl both of them off a cliff.

"Okay..." Chiron grimaced and put his head back in his hands.

While he looked away, Rino flicked off the cords on Luke and held out his hands. "Want a hand up?" he asked.

"No thanks," Luke sat up, checking to see if the ropes had cut off too much circulation and if his legs could still support him. They did.

"You'll survive," Shade drawled, noticing Luke's caution. "Now that Chiron has declared you're at least somewhat clear... just expect that he'll still think you're dangerous and tell one of us to knock you out at random times."

"I'm thrilled," Luke drawled back. "What could be better than quality time with the dirt?"

"Quality time with emo-boy!" Claire announced brightly, and completely out of the blue.

"That'd be interesting," Luna admitted. "But shut up."

Shade rolled his eyes. "I'm not emo. I'm just normal in ways that you don't understand."

"I don't get it," Annabeth said, exasperated. "When did Chiron get this suspicious and I didn't notice?!"

Ayden raised her eyebrows. "Chiron got this suspicious when he was dealing with the ex-servants of the enemy." she said simply.

"Normal is boring," Claire answered matter-of-factly. "Your name is Shade. Did you pick that, by the way? 'Cause if you did, congratulations, you're emo-and-or-have-no-originality." Despite herself, Luna did look interested by this question and at the same time like she was trying not to be.

Shade put his head in his hands. "Shade is a nickname. I thought you would have figured that out by now. Mom gave it to me when she saw my other-dimension trick. I liked it, and it stuck."

Claire blinked. "Wooooooow. Your mom is emo too."

"Claire, you don't just go around saying that to people," Luna hissed, elbowing her hard.

"I just did, so there! What's your real name? Is it embarrassing or something?"

Shade rolled his eyes, pretending not to have heard anything after Claire's 'wow'. "Shade. As in ghost. Errant spirit of the Underworld. I'm not emo. I do not come from a lineage of people with problems. I'm just strange."

"Got that right," Claire agreed. "Are you going to tell me your name or not?"

"Don't," Luna warned. "She'll find some way to make it sound stupid."

"Like Loon!" Claire smiled, pleased with herself.

Shade looked a little annoyed. "My name is Jonathan. If you tease me about it, I will call on my powers to give you an extra hard time in the Underworld."

"Butbutbutbutbut - " Claire spluttered.

"Stop it, Claire. You already used Johnny Appleseed on that _really_ annoying kid back home," Luna pointed out.

"Oh yeah." Claire looked a little put out.

Ayden gaped. "Jonathan? That doesn't sound like you! But... in a weird way... it kinda fits..."

Rino shrugged. "I understand why you want to be called Shade." he said mildly.

Luna rolled her eyes. "If we're done discussing names - "

"We're not," Claire interjected. "I still have to think of a way to make fun of emo-boy's name." It was more of an idle threat than anything, but Claire was Claire.

Luna continued, ignoring her. "I want to know what's for dinner."

Tyson thought for a second, brow crinkling over his single brown eye. "Probably burgers, or else 'dogs."

That caught Claire's attention. "Y'do mean hot dogs, right?" she asked suspiciously.

Shade rolled his eyes with a sigh. "No. We're having a poodle for dessert," he drawled.

Claire brightened. "Nice! I hate poodles." Luna rubbed her forehead, looking like she watned to kill someone. "Snakes are better than poodles, though," Claire said conversationally. "Less itchy fluff."

"No, they're too tough to chew," Luna shot back.

"Like gum!"

Shade dropped his head into his hands. "Oh gods, what have I started?" he said to himself.

"Nah, snakes are the main course. Poodles are much more succulent than snakes." Ayden smiled cheerfully.

They ignored him. This was _fun_.

"What's succulent mean?" Claire blinked.

"All juicy and stuff," Luna said. "So, how are they going to be cooked? Roasted, in stew -"

"Shish-kebobs!" Claire interrupted brightly. "With ketchup!"

"Fried, in a frying pan, in their own fat." Somehow, Rino managed to keep a straight face. "Like McDonalds"

Ayden grimaced. "I hate that place."

"It has good ice cream," Claire offered.

"Only in vanilla," Luna said. "Which sucks."

"Hey, vanilla's all you need."

"I like their milkshakes. And fries." Shade announced. "The burgers are okay too."

Luna groaned. "Okay, can we just _stop_ talking about McDonalds now?"

"Okay. We'll talk about Wendy's," Claire said cheerfully.

"Oh gods no. I hate that annoying girl-mascot-thing. Such stupid hair..."

"The Burger King Mascot looks pretty stupid too." Rino rolled his eyes.

"Yah... Does anyone here like barbies?" Ayden looked around anxiously.

Claire giggled. "I do! Teaching them bungee jumping is fun."

"You forgot the fact they have no parachutes," Luna reminded her.

Rino shrugged and put his arm around Ayden's shoulders. "I think it's fun to strip them and then put them up around her tent while she's sleeping. She wakes up and starts screaming. It's kinda funny. Then she tries to kill me, and that's not so funny, but still." Ayden grimaced and elbowed her twin, who grinned impishly at her.

Claire eyed Rino suspiciously. "What d'you put them up with, tape? Cause that's not original enough."

Luna groaned. "Don't remind me. The Barbie Inquisition."

Claire shrugged. "It was fun. All the nooses and burning and stuff...the neighbors thought we were insane."

"They already did."

"Crazy Glue." Rino corrected proudly. "Then when she tried to take them off, they came off with part of the tent too. Eventually she just had to leave them up there."

Ayden scowled at him.

Claire shook her head, sounding amazed. "You are nuts."

"That's a good thing," Luna said boredly. "Why are we talking about Barbies? I can't decide if Barbies or McDonalds were worse."

Chiron interrupted, clapped his hands loudly and sparing Rino a reply. "Dinnertime - hamburgers or hot dogs by the fire."

Claire grinned. "Where'd you put the fur?" she asked Chiron mischievously, then ran off before he could reply. Luna rolled her eyes and walked after Claire, grumbling something about annoying twins.

Rino sighed, grabbing a hamburger. "If you didn't know her, you would think she actually believed us!" he joked to Ayden. Ayden continued scowling.


	8. Chapter 8: Back at Camp Halfblood

BACK AT CAMP HALFBLOOD

Chiron left the travelers outside the main cabin with specific orders NOT TO MOVE. He dumped his bags by his stall bed, and hurried back outside. "Alright. You sleep in the cabins of your divine parent. Luna and Claire, you go over there to Apollo, Rino and Ayden, you're in Hestia. Clear? We meet for dinner at 6, sharp. Dionysus doesn't like latecomers."  
Claire gave Luna a "the-hell-I-can't-be-on-time-for-anything" glance. Luna gave her a "shut-up-and-do-it" glance in response. "Yeah."

For quite possibly the first time, Luke looked uncertain instead of all annoying and stuff. "Won't they try to kill me or something?" he asked bluntly.

"Good question," Claire said in a stage whisper. "I would."

"Not helping," Luna said, at the same time as Annabeth and Thalia.

Chiron studied Luke for a moment. "Bunk with Shade. No one will bother you there."

Claire did not want to go straight to her cabin and said so. Luna sighed. "What is there to do around here?"

"There's the archery fields," Thalia said. "I could take you there. I need to practice myself."

Claire immediately perked up. "LET'S GO!" she cheered, racing off.

"...You're going the wrong way."

Claire raced back and they all headed off in the right direction. This time.

Rino watched. "Is there anywhere that I could go and GET weapons? Both Ayden and I are only armed with our fire, and that's useless on a battlefield, unless the people we were fighting with were used to us using it. We both have daggers, and we know how to use bows, and swords, we just don't have them."

Shade nodded. "This way to the armory," he said, leading the way. "Tyson, do you want to come? How about you, Percy? Your sword looked like it needed to be sharpened."

Claire paused in her tracks and grinned. "Fire is good! Just burn it. And whaddyou mean it doesn't burn?"

Luna sighed. "Claire, shut up and let's go."

"...It does?" The motto here? Never trust Percy to look after a sword properly.

"Right...if you're going to go make some weapons, I'm going to go now," Grover said hastily, backing up. "Anyone wanna come rock climbing?"

"I will," Annabeth volunteered. "I don't need a new weapon."

Rino sighed. "Most people are scared by our fire - that much we've learned. If people stopped paying attention to what's in front of them to watch us, that would be bad."

Shade nodded. "Pretty badly."

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Ayden started to lead the way. Shade cut in front of her. "You have no idea where you're going." He led them away.


	9. Chapter 9: Dinner

DINNER TIME THAT NIGHT

DINNER TIME THAT NIGHT!

Claire had struck up a conversation with another of the Apollo campers, a sixteen-year-old girl named Jasmine Huang, arguing about the benefits of two different ways to fire flaming arrows. Luna was trying to ignore them both and was making small items chuck themselves at the Aphrodite and Ares table because she was bored.

Shade picked his head up disgustedly. "You are really bad at throwing," he said, shaking grapes out of his hair. He tossed one back at her.

Luna pointed at it and it fell to the ground. "I'm not exactly a pitcher," she answered.

Shade grinned, and sat beside Luna. "At least my tosses are accurate," he said. "Want to play me in Archery sometime?"

Ayden, beside Claire but close to Luna shook her head. "No." she mouthed. "He gets a perfect bullseye almost every time. But don't tell him I said that," Ayden switched to talking. "Cause he'll get a swelled head."

Luna eyed Shade. "Mhm. No thanks." Changing the subject, she asked Ayden, "So what'd you name your sword?"

"Tide." answered Ayden. Then she burst into giggles. "And guess what Rino named his? Firedancer. Can you think of a more... yah know... name?"

"Depends on what you mean by that," Luna half-smirked. "For example, Claire named her first teddy bear Ember. Then again, she did set fire to it the next day..."

"And it was fun too!" Claire interrupted her own conversation before resuming arguing about flaming arrows and all that.

"And Rino intends to do what? Set it on fire and start doing the hula? I'm outa here if he wants to do that."

Luna winced. "Mildly disturbing," she decided. "Convince him to rename it something else?"

Rino sighed beside Ayden. Sliding his fingers towards himself, he thought for a moment. "How about... Hesperos?"

Ayden shrugged. "Seems better than Firedance to me, but Evening Star? Get real."

"Fine. Pyphoros?"

"Fire-bearing? Better..."

"Pyripnon?"

"Rino, swords don't breathe fire."

"True. How about Aidelon?"

"Hmm... Destructive fire?"

"I like it."

Ayden sighed. "Fine. Go ahead. I like my Tide."

"That's boring."

"What's Tide in greek?"

"It's Palirroia, I think."

"That sounds right. I like it." Ayden decided.

"It's better."

"It's mine."

Rino shrugged. "I have Aidelon, you have Palirroia. What a pair."

Ayden rolled her eyes. "One is copper, one is steel with a ripple pattern. Think, Rino."

Rino grinned. "True."

"Firedance would have been interesting," Luna said. "Then we could've seen what nickname Claire would've come up with." She examined a chicken wing before peeling off the skin, continuing, "Though copper seems too soft to be a sword, if you have the choice of steel or celestial bronze. It isn't _solid_ copper, is it?"

Rino shook his head. "It's celestial bronze on the inside, with a copper sheathing. Tyson thought of the design - looks pretty and has a deadly effect on halfbloods, gods and monsters. And it can be seen by and scare a human. It just can't hurt them."

Ayden shrugged. "Mine's bronze too, with a temperament to it so that it appears silver and has the wave pattern I like."

Luna eyed Rino strangely. "Celestial bronze already does that. Why would you want it...Never mind. Swordplay isn't my specialty, so there's no point. Have fun with your special swords, then."

Rino sighed. "The Mist works on celestial bronze, but not copper. Copper is ordinary, a human metal. Celestial bronze isn't normal, so the Mist shields it."

"Yeah, whatever," Luna shrugged. "So what do celestial bronze arrows look like?"

"Bronze arrows. What else?" Ayden tried to think of a different answer, and came up blank.

"Really deformed gun," Luna informed them both.

Rino shrugged. "I wonder what our fire looks like. Maybe they just can't see it." Rino snapped his fingers and a little tongue of flame shot out of his thumb. "Hey Ayden, should I give myself a hairdo like Hades has in the Disney movie Hercules?"

Ayden sighed. "Do what you want – it's your hair."

"Please do. It'd give us all a good laugh," Luna stated, miraculously managing to maintain a straight face.

Rino frowned for a moment, then his head was alive with flickering green flames, all but obscuring the tousled brown locks below it. "You like?"

Ayden punched her brother. "Why green?" she demanded. "I thought it was more my color." her brother replied sensibly.

Luna shrugged. "Hang on a minute." She turned around to face the rest of Camp Half-Blood, who had obviously noticed the light show. Some were awed, some were freaked out and some were indifferent (coughDionysuscough). "Anyone have a camera?"

Rino grinned. "It'll stay for as long as I want it to," he said.

Ayden sighed. "And what if I don't want it to?" she asked.

"Don't even think about trying to blow it out," Rino said smugly. "I made sure that that won't work."

"Dump him in the lake!" called a Hermes camper. He turned around and high-fived another camper, grinning widely. A son of Ares cheered, "Dump him! Dump him!" His sister - coughClarissecough - joined in, along with many of the other campers.

"Drat it," exclaimed Rino. "I hate it when they think of new things." Shade started laughing uncontrolably, and flicked his fingers. Rino was paralyzed in an instant.

Shade turned to the Hermes camper. "Go ahead - dump him. He won't protest now, and it'll give us all a laugh. Rino, as long as you're still good natured after, I'll take this off of you when you come out, alright?"

"Now all we need is a parade," Luna observed, watching the gaggle of campers swarm around Rino and pick him up. She noticed Claire and Jasmine were among the followers, and sighed. "Hey, will he drown if he can't move?" she asked Shade. _Some_one had to consider it.

Shade nearly giggled. "Now. Do you really think I want to kill Rino? No - he'll float like a cork."

Ayden sighed and followed everyone else. "You know, Shade," she said over her shoulder. "He's gonna be really mad when you release him." Shade gave her a wicked grin. "I know. I know very well." he shouted back, looking rather pleased with himself.

Luna sighed. Might as well go watch the chaos. She paused and glanced back to the head table, where Mr. D and Chiron were eating. "Aren't you going to stop them?" she asked Mr. D, mildly curious.

He looked up from his cheeseburger and rolled his eyes. "Gods no, girl. These campers deserve what's coming to them."

Chiron looked up as well. "You know as well as I do that Rinario can take care of himself."

Dionysus chuckled. "Rinario? Hestia named her kid Rinario? Wow – I'm impressed."

Tyson laughed beside Luna. "Mr D never interfers." he said. "He thinks us funny. Right?"

"Of course I do, Cyclops," Mr. D sighed. "Now go help them push the kid in."

Tyson gave Dionysus a wide eyed stare from one large brown eye. "But that's mean!" he protested. "It's mean to push other people in lake! I can't do that!"

"Then let's go watch, at least," Luna sighed, heading off. "Come _on,_ Tyson! Unless you want a staring contest with Mr. D."

"And gods know I don't," Mr. D added.

"True." said Tyson. He followed Luna to the river bank.

"MMMPH!" said Rino by the river. "MMMMMMMMMPPPPHHHHHH!! MMMMMPPPHHH -" Rino was abruptly cut off by the shockingly cold water. He popped up quickly, spluttering through sealed lips the indignity of it all. They pushed him under again, and he floated back up. Still screaming. They repeated the process until Rino went limp in his invisible bonds and stopped protesting.

Shade strode to the edge of the river. He shoved his way through the gaggle of half-bloods, and pulled Rino out. He took the bindings off Rino, and Rino instantly rose up and tackled him, attacking Shade with furiously injured pride. "RAR!" he screamed as Shade easily fended off his wild attack, but made no move to knock him off or out.

This was the point when people started shouting suggestions and bets. Yes, bets, and were arguing over who would beat who. Most people were in Shade's favor.

Claire was giggling. "He said 'RAR!'"

Rino looked up, distracted by Claire's outburst for the briefest moment. That was all Shade needed. He flipped Rino over and pinned him down with one hand resting on the fire thrower's throat. But Rino wasn't finished yet. Somehow he managed to knock Shade's balance off, and they ended up rolling in a cloud of dust. When the dust settled, Shade had pinned Rino once more, and Rino was in a dazed, trance like state from some point when Shade rapped his knuckles against Rino's head. Shade wasn't even breathing hard. "Never make the first move. If you attack me again, I won't be so nice." Shade clambered up and hauled Rino to his feet, although Rino was in no condition to stay like that. Shade handed him to Ayden, and headed back to his hamburger.

Jasmine Huang promptly went off to heckle the Hermes camper, who'd started the whole mess and had taken bets, for money.

Claire muttered something about overpowered annoying emo boys while Luna was doing a good job of ignoring the latest stream of nonsense from her twin.

As he passed by Claire, Shade stopped and looked her in the eye. "Stop being annoying." he said.

Claire stuck out her tongue at Shade and then declared, "I'll be just as annoying as I want to be!" Unfortunately, she said it like it was a _good_ thing.

Just then, Alex came by and saw Shade. "Hey!" she said. "Why are you all dusty!?" Looking around, she saw Rino. "And why can't he stand up? What happened?"

Shade sighed. "Ask her," he said, handing the nine-year-old to Claire.

Claire explained cheerfully, "Rino did something stupid with his hair. So some Hermes guy gave everyone the idea of dumping him in the lake. So emo-boy here helped. And when Rino got out, emo-boy got jumped and then they fought and then emo-boy pulverized him."

"Oh." said Sky.

Rino, hanging limply in Ayden's arms, noticed then that his hair was still green, but lying rather flat because it was wet. Concentrating briefly, he made his hair flame up again and yah. That was that. Now he was just wet AND weird. Alex goggled at his head, nearly tripping over Sky when the big centaur/satyr stopped short to stare at the green flames as well. Sky started, then turned around and herded Alex off. "Its time for us to go to sleep. Come on - I can't reach the hay in the cabinet at the stables, and I want some and Blues'll prolly want some too."

Shade raised his eyebrows at Claire. "You'll be just as annoying as you want to be... until I threaten you with an hour of silence?" he said.

Claire squeaked like a mouse and covered her mouth with her arm, though both were highly exaggerated and she was still smirking at Shade. Luna sighed. Her twin just didn't know where to stop.

"I could make it two," Shade bargained. "Or add paralysis to the deal. Do you really want to try me? I could also have you go comatose for a day or so - no one would really miss you all that much..."

"Hhhhhmmm." Shade whirled at the unexpected sound, nearly barreling into Chiron. "Get some sleep," the centaur advised. "We go talk to the gods in the morning. And leash Luke to you, Shade - I don't want there to be any... trouble. Understand?"

Luna sighed, dragging Claire away. "You are way too lucky," she informed her twin.

"Maybe," Claire agreed. "I think we're going fighty soon."

"...I was under the impression we already were..."

Shade thought about silencing Claire anyway, but didn't. Instead he went and caught up with Luna and tapped her on the shoulder. "There's something I have to say," he said quietly. "Privately." He was dearly hoping Claire hadn't heard him.

Of course, as the two were walking back to the Apollo cabin together, that was a bit too much to hope for, especially after Claire had demonstrated her incredible talent to hear things most people didn't want her to hear. She had already opened her mouth when Luna elbowed her. Hard. Claire took an involuntary breath and glared. "Fine. Not a word to anyone," she sighed, adopting an exaggerated limp and heading off the rest of the way to Apollo on her own.

Shade wrung his hands together. Now that they were finally alone (sort of), he had no idea how he was going to say what he wanted to. "Luna... um... I just... ah... wanted to say... um..." For a rather sure-of-himself guy, this was big. He couldn't even put together a sentence. "Well... thanks, for one... for just... well... you know... and I also wanted to say... well..." Shade fingered the Invisibility cloak that Hestia had given him. It was in his pocket. He was struck with an idea - thank you, Athena. "Well... I wanted to say... well... you can use this for any time you want to get out unnoticed and well... Luna... I love you." And with that, Shade disappeared.

Okay, if Luna had been expecting anything, that wasn't it. She stared after him, completely bewildered, with the cloak still in her hands. It was uncertain how long she could have stayed like that, but then her sister came and snapped her out of it.

Jasmine Huang walked up, a satisfied smirk on her face and her pockets clinking merrily with drachmas. She noticed Luna almost immediately, and called loudly, "'Ey, Moony. Where's your un-shadow?"

"...Un-shadow?"

"Well, you're the quiet one, and you two are pretty much always together, I thought," Jasmine shrugged. "So, what happened?"

"Ahh...nothing..."

Jasmine eyed her dubiously. "Right. I believe that. Not. Come on, Moony, back to the cabin." Luna sighed, having realized she wouldn't be shedding the nickname any time soon and had decided not to say anything about it. She stuffed the cloak into her jeans' pocket, mildly impressed that it managed to do so since it seemed too large.

Ayden went up to Luna. "Did he say what I think he said?" she asked. Rino sighed and tried to drag her away. It didn't work.

"I think he diiiid," Jasmine Huang announced to the Hestia twins.

"How would you know?" Luna asked.

"Meh. The Aphrodite kids aren't that bad. Silena's okay, and Jon-Jon (he hates it when I call him that, hah). And they talk. A lot. About stuff." She flashed them a cheerful smile. "So anyway, did he?" she demanded.

"Maybe, maybe not," Luna shrugged.

Jasmine grinned. "HE DID!" she practically shouted, then quickly covered her mouth. "Oops."

Ayden's jaw dropped. "Oh my gods! What did you say?"

"What I just said..." Luna answered.

"Oh. Are you meeting any time soon?"

"How should I know?" Luna shrugged. "Does Chiron normally enforce lights-out?"

"That's more of Mr. D's interest, and he has the harpies...oh crap! Come on, I am not getting caught by the dodo-ladies again. Was horrible last time," Jasmine shuddered. "Had to kill them all and then got chewed out major-ly." She grabbed Luna's wrist and practically towed the other girl to the Apollo cabin, waving over her shoulder at Ayden and Rino but not slowing down at all.

Rino paled. "Harpies?" he breathed, and dragged his sister to the Hestia cabin.

Shade shimmered into view on his bunk, head in his hands. He wondered how Luna had reacted - he hadn't stayed long enough to see. He sat and waited for Luke to start questioning him.

"So, how'd it go?" Luke asked, from his position in the bunk below. He'd been waiting with considerable interest, since he wasn't supposed to go out and had to have his dinner in the Big House, which was boring.

Shade decided to answer Luke's question another way. "Dinner was fine. They dumped Rino in a lake. Big deal. I had to paralyze him first. Then, after I took it off, he lunges at me. He's not that good at fist fighting. It was too easy. Anyway, Chiron caught me afterwards and made me promise to leash you. I won't though, if you promise to act like you're leashed."

Luke sighed. "Never mind. Your love life sounds pathetic, though. I suggest you go threaten one of the Aphrodite kids in the morning. 'Night."

"Look, all I did was give her my cloak, alright? Now, do you promise to behave or should I leash you in the morning?" Shade wasn't in the best of moods.

Luke sighed. "I let it go already, in case you couldn't tell. You should too. _'Night_."

Shade grumbled. "You are so getting leashed to a column." he said to himself, and rolled over and went to sleep.


	10. Chapter 10: Going To Olympus

Chiron shook Shade awake

Chiron shook Shade awake. "Leash Luke and wake the others. Meet at the center of camp." he said, and went to clean himself up.

Shade sighed. Wrapping a strand of dark light around Luke's wrist, he sunk it deep into the other halfblood's skin, and repeated the process to himself before he shook the blonde boy awake. "We have to go wake the others. You have ten feet. If you try to drag me, that dark tattoo will start to burn. Alright?" Shade gestured at the dark band that his light had made in Luke's wrist.

Luke eyed the dark-light (oxymoron alert) dubiously. "Right...and if they try to kill me on sight?" There was no way he was going to try to fend off the entire camp...granted at least some of them wouldn't try to kill him, but probably wouldn't help him either.

Apollo cabin woke up to Claire falling out of her bunk bed. She wasn't yet used to sleeping on the top bunk, but nobody suffered any damage (except maybe Kerry Corneille, but that was because she wanted to sleep in and her siblings wouldn't let her).

Shade smirked. "Then I put the leash around a column and watch and laugh." With that, he dragged Luke to Hestia. Shade dumped Rino off the bottom bunk. As the olive skinned boy rubbed his eyes, Shade said, "Wake Ayden and go to the center of camp." Rino nodded blearily, and Shade dragged Luke around to Poseidon and shook Percy and Tyson awake. "Time to go say hi to the gods, and Percy, you find Grover." And they continued to Zeus. Shade didn't enter, but said from the doorway, "THALIA! MORNING!"

Apollo cabin woke up to Claire falling out of her bunk bed. She wasn't yet used to sleeping on the top bunk, but nobody suffered any damage (except maybe Kerry Corneille, but that was because she wanted to sleep in and her siblings wouldn't let her). From Hestia, there was a similar flash as Ayden vented her frustrations on her brother.

"You do know..." Luke began. He was promptly interrupted by a swift bolt of lightning. "That."

Thalia pulled the blanket back over her head. "I really, really hate you," she informed them both.

"Join the club," Luke agreed, eyeing the doorframe that had gotten fried. He was very glad it was in the way and he wasn't. The other boy had to be a sadistic demon hell-bent on giving everyone else their own little slice of hell.

Shade smirked. "Simply cause you hate me doesn't stop it from being morning. Go find Alex and Sky. I think they're in the stables. Like usual." Shade towed Luke onward to Athena's cabin. "Annabeth," he said softly. "Morning. Chiron wants us."

"Mhm?" Annabeth yawned. "Yeah, be there in a minute. What was that noise?"

"Thalia, what else?" Luke said. "I feel like a dog," he added.

"Great. Do you really think I care?" Shade may not have blown things up when Chiron tried to wake him, but that didn't mean he was exceptionally happy about being in his present state. He pulled Luke to the center of camp, where Chiron was sliding his horse half down into his magical wheelchair.

"Are they coming?" the centaur asked.

"Yup." said Shade. Rino and Ayden came down minutes later from Hestia, followed by Tyson.

"Argos!" called Chiron. "We're just about ready. Could you grab the van and the ramp?"

Percy was last, having to figure out where the satyrs actually slept and then he had to get there. A mild oversight. Everyone else was there by the time he and goat-boy were - Thalia, Annabeth, Claire, Luna, and, of course, Luke still leashed to Shade (like a dog).

Argos pulled up with the van, and climbed out. He opened up the ramp for Sky and Chiron who ducked into the back of the van. "Everyone in," he said, jingling his keys. Once they had followed his command, he pulled out of Camp Halfblood, and jumped on the interstate to New York, New York. "Empire State Building - Everyone out!"

Miraculously, nothing too destructive had happened while the half-bloods had been crammed together in the back of a van. Admittedly Claire had repeatedly tried to think up a new dog name for Luke (she insisted "monkeyboy" wasn't good enough for a dog) and Luke had tried to threaten her and Luna had argued and all that. Percy and Grover had inched as far over to the other end of the van as they could, and Annabeth and Thalia were conferring on what-to-do-if-Percy-angers-another-god-_again_, but no major destruction.

Percy and Grover were the first out, followed quickly by Luna, dragging Claire out before Luke decided to actually stab her. Annabeth and Thalia climbed out too. Claire stopped mid-sentence to gape at New York like the tourist she was. Luna did a better job of not being too impressed.

Rino and Ayden jumped out, and stopped. "Wow. I didn't know buildings could get so tall." Rino said, standing and gaping in front of the van door.

Shade poked him. "Move out of the way for the rest of us," he said, his other arm nearly dragged out of its socket by Luke. "Luke! Ouch! Get back here!" he called, sending a spark down the chain in warning.

Chiron sighed. "This way." he said pointedly, wheeling across the street to the Empire State, holding onto a string tied around Sky's neck - apparently, with the Mist, it would look like a horse on a lead. Why a horse would be in New York was a different question, but a much more manageable one than what was that thing with a horse's body, satyr legs and a human torso wearing a brown sweater despite summer heat. The centaur went into the building, Shade dragging Luke and everyone else bringing up the rear.

Chiron opened his mouth to talk to the guard when he shook his head. "Here's the card. I'd like it back when you're done." Chiron grinned, and everyone paraded into the elevator. Chiron slid the card into the slot. The elevator shot up, and a minute later opened at level Olympus.


	11. Chapter 11: One Less Traitor

"Everyone this way," Chiron ushered them into the Pantheon of the Gods

"Everyone this way," Chiron ushered them into the Pantheon of the Gods.

Hestia grinned at her twins from her place in the hearth, and probably would have invited them to join her in the fire had Chiron not scowled at her. Along with Hephaestus. And Artemis. And Hermes. And Demeter.

"Cool," Claire muttered, eyeing Hestia's hearth. Of course, it really _wasn't_ cool in the literal sense because it was a giant fire, but whatever. Luna rolled her eyes. Everyone else had the sense to keep their mouths shut when the gods were present, but she had to get stuck with the suicidal/insane/idiotic twin.

Rino stared longingly into the fire, but was held back by Tyson's death grip on his arm. Tyson had Ayden as well. And Ayden was not happy. "Let me go!" she hissed. "Percy! Make him let me go!"

Percy looked about as startled as a deer caught in the headlights of an eighteen-wheeler at seventy miles an hour. Partly because he wasn't paying attention, partly because he had no idea what to do. Thalia interrupted. "Why are you grabbing them both?" she asked Tyson under her breath. Sure, it wasn't a good idea not to stand at attention or something while the gods held council, but then, Thalia had never been particularly devoted to the gods.

Then everyone was interrupted by a rush of wind. The palace chilled a few degrees (leaving Hestia frowning mightily) as Hades swept into the room. "Brother Zeus, I claim my place as one of the major gods in this council." he said, holding up his hands in the universal sign for 'I come in peace'.

Hades waited impatiently for a little while, then scowled. "Zeus, am I welcome, or should I get out of the way before I am blasted by a thunderbolt?" he demanded.

Shade stared at the floor. It was just like his father to forget he existed. Or at least pretend he did.

Alex stared animatedly around the Pantheon. The nine year old was grinning with excitement. Before Sky could cork her up, Alex said loudly, "Now who's my da?" Sky slammed her forehead. Chiron sighed.

"Don't be ridiculous, brother," Zeus said, his face as impassive as a chunk of marble. He ignored Alex's outburst, though Dionysus sighed. It figured that his daughter would go and embarrass him publicly before she even knew who he was.

Hera leaned forward, peacock-blue eyes intent on her brother. "We have been expecting you, brother." As she finished her sentence, a pair of eagles swooped in, miraculously supporting a heavy-looking black throne, the exact duplicate of the one that Hades used in the underworld. They dropped it at the foot of the table, where it landed soundlessly.

Hades looked at his brother, wary for a trap, then sat regally in the throne provided. Chiron cleared his throat.

Hermes clenched the arms of his throne in his hands, wondering whether to speak. Finally, he sighed. Rising, he took Luke from Shade (who had slipped his end of the loop off of his wrist), and knelt before Zeus. "Father, I beg your mercy on account of your grandson." he declared. "Luke, explain yourself." he hissed quietly to his son.

Shade couldn't take his eyes off Hades. He looked beseechingly at his father for answers, approval, acknowledgement, but none came. Eyes stony, he lifted his chin. To Chiron, as well as the rest of the hall, he said as a challenge, "You were wrong. I'm fifteen. There are three candidates! Nico isn't dead. He never was."

Luke gave his father a "What the hell" glare. There are just some things no one in their right minds asks anyone to do. Like grovel to the boss Olympian who you really hate to the point of wanting to overthrow them and slice up into itty-bitty pieces and - anyway, off-topic. And also very bad if Zeus was reading his mind right then. Oops. Then Luke redirected his attention to Hermes. "You already _know_ why," he said harshly. Apparently being yanked around on a leash had done nothing for his mood.

"And I would rather hear it from you, not my son," Zeus said.

"I know, but my father does not. Explain yourself." Hermes looked very, very angry.

"A third half-blood?" Athena interrupted Shade's "confession." The son of Hades really needed to learn tact rather than bursting out at randomly inopportune moments, she decided, but that could wait.

Hades looked at his son. "You turned seventeen last year!" he said.

Shade shook his head. "I let you believe that. I turned fifteen. It just showed me that you don't care. Nico is my half brother," Shade said to Athena. "He is in the forests in Montana, where we left him."

"Interesting," Athena said, an excellent understatement. "Which of you three turns sixteen first?" The prophecy spoke of the next to turn sixteen, and that was the immediate concern right now.

Shade grimaced. "I do. Percy's still fourteen, and Nico is twelve."

"So much family drama," Claire muttered. "I'm not sure what to watch."

Luna, for once, agreed. "Is it too much to ask to deal with one thing at a time?"

Apollo raised his hand. "I second that," he announced cheerfully, and Luna winced. Uh-oh. Claire grinned, for once not the one in the spotlight.

"Interesting," Athena said, an excellent understatement. "Which of you three turns sixteen first?" The prophecy spoke of the next to turn sixteen, and that was the immediate concern right now.

Demeter glared at Apollo. "Could you and your twins for once shut up? Both of these matters are important."

"Of course they are, but worrying about them at the same time gives me a headache," Apollo said cheerfully. "And anyway, Zeus and Hades aren't paying attention to both of them." Luna looked like she was doing her best not to look murderous, and was actually doing a fairly good job of it (as in, only a bit put-off by the plant goddess). The twins returned their attention to the whole three half-bloods thing, for rather different reasons.

Hermes glared right back at Luke, and Hera decided to interrupt. "Honestly, must you reek of so much testosterone?" The silver-haired goddess tapped the arm of her throne impatiently. "One of you start talking, or I shall personally devise a punishment worse than any of Tartarus's." She could do it, too. Hera would be quite excellent as a goddess of vengeance.

Even Luke didn't want three gods against him (three angry gods + one half-blood dead, dead, dead). "Let's be honest here. Why do you gods have more of a right to rule than the Titan Lord?"

"We have every right," Zeus snapped. "We _made_ this world what it is, we made you and the humans and their world. What can dear _Father_ say to that?"

"He said an awful lot about you gods needing to open your eyes. Have you seen what the humans have done to this world? Take Pan, god of the wild. I wonder whose side he would be on," Luke said mockingly. Crowded against the wall, Grover flinched like someone had stuck a knife in his ribs. Apparently that had never occurred to the satyrs.

Zeus seemed to practically radiate murderous intent, and probably would have roasted the half-blood right then and there had Hera not stopped him. She laid her slender hand over his wrist, stopping the king of the Olympians cold. "The boy only waits for you to kill him," she said. "His loyalty now lies neither with the Titan Lord nor you, but our father's ideals still hold him. Not yet."

"He would be easier to control from the Underworld," Dionysus volunteered boredly, not paying attention to either possible end-of-the-era drama.

Percy didn't say anything, but, well... _It'd be really nice if the world decided if I'm supposed to bring doomsday or not._ Athena sighed. "Then when is your birthday?" she asked Shade.

Luke raised an eyebrow. He hadn't been expecting the opportunity to lecture a god, and he might as well. They were probably going to fry him for siding with Kronos anyway, he decided. "For one, there were humans," he pointed out. "Just really stupid ones, but technically humans. Not to mention technically the six children of the Titan Lord were the first gods, so you're probably referring to the Titans - or did you fight inside your father's stomach?"

Zeus was pretty much torn between laughing at his brother being corrected by a half-blood traitor and roaring at said half-blood traitor to watch his mouth. Hera made the decision for him. "Do not show such insolence, boy," she warned. "Any one of us could slay you were you stand."

Hades' fist hit his throne. "Insolence! Remember your myths, boy! Who created humans?! Under whose orders?! Tell me that!"

Hades grimaced. "And who did Prometheus work for as he created your ancestors?"

"You're probably going to kill me anyway. I might as well say what I want," Luke said. "In any case, Prometheus created humans, good for him. He also tried to make their lives better and you chained him to a rock for his liver to be pecked out daily."

Hermes grabbed the back of his son's neck, pressing lightly the pressure points. "Shut up." he hissed. "Your friends have gone through too much work only to loose you because you can't stop mouthing off at Hades. If he kills you, you'll have a very unpleasant time in the underworld. And I can't stop him. I'm not on the same tier as they are."

Luke glared. "I'm going to have to die eventually," he hissed back. "And I don't think he's just going to _forget_." Then again, Thalia at the very least would probably track him down once she died and add her own torture to whatever inventive punishment the gods could think up.

Hermes promptly smacked the back of his son's head. With his other hand, so he didn't release his son's neck. Then he sighed. "I can't force you to do anything. Die needlessly if you so wish."

Shade shrugged. "Dunno – sometime in the winter. Hades might know."

Athena glanced at the god of the dead. "He seems busy at the moment. I don't suppose you could ask your mother?"

Shade had the same expression as his father. "My mother? She's dead. Has been since before I can remember."

"Is that all you have to say?" Hera asked lightly. Luke shrugged. "Then we should summon Astraea."

"Who?" Claire asked in a carrying whisper.

"Little-known goddess of justice, is the constellation Virgo," Annabeth explained, more quietly than Claire had asked. "Daughter of Zeus and Themis."

A rainbow winked into existence next to Zeus. "Get Astraea here," he told it, and the rainbow disappeared. A few moments later, a woman stepped out of nowhere. She had long, straight black hair and a dress of black cloth that glittered, like a patch of the night sky. She bowed to Zeus and Hera, ignoring the other gods in the hall. "You sent for me?"

"We would like you to judge this mortal and give him an appropriate fate," Zeus said.

Astraea nodded. "Lord Hermes, please stand aside." A pair of plain silver balancing scales appeared on her right arm. "Mortal, place your hand on one of the platforms." Luke did, knowing full well what the result would be. A feather materialized on the other, at first white and swiftly turning a strange shade of blue-silver. Astraea picked it up and examined it.

"He is indeed guilty of quite a few crimes going against Olympian law - very major ones - but his heart is mainly confused. I do not know of his intentions," she concluded. "The crimes he does have are, by Olympian law, punishable by death and then he is to be compulsarily judged when he passes into Lord Hades's realm. Shall I carry out the judgement?"

Annabeth shielded her eyes with her forearm as Zeus's reply was, "No, I shall." The crackling scent of ozone, and she knew the master lightning bolt was in the god's hand. With a burst of white light that she could see through closed eyes and a deafening thunderclap, the room was still.


End file.
